It's hard to believe that a year has passed since the site's launch, and 2013 is drawing to a close. My name is Mitsuhiro Ebihara, and I took over from Tatsuya Noda as editor-in-chief this month.

While we continue to update the site, today marks the end of many of your workdays, so I'd like to offer an early end-of-year greeting. We were able to get through the year thanks to the support of our readers and our reporters. Thank you very much. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude.

2013 was a year filled with a variety of topics, from the fashion world to the domestic retail industry, and the political and economic worlds. Personally, it was a year in which I constantly considered the relationship between online media, print media, and brick-and-mortar stores in the fashion industry.

Now, with the aim of predicting the future of fashion media, we are launching a series called "Japan Mode Magazine Chronicle" by fashion journalist Yuri Yokoi as a winter holiday project. Yokoi, who has been involved with most international fashion magazines distributed in Japan, will interview people involved in the magazine's early days as well as current editors-in-chief, and will foresee everything from the beginnings of fashion in Japan to the future of fashion magazines. The first half of the magazine will trace the dawn of Japanese fashion, focusing on magazines like ELLE and marie claire, while the second half will look back on Vogue, Harper's BAZAAR, and NUMERO. The first half will be delivered starting tomorrow night, the 28th, leading up to the New Year. We believe that anyone involved in fashion, including fashion lovers, those working in fashion, and those studying fashion, will find the content enjoyable. We hope you will take the time to read it during your break. We hope you have a wonderful 2014. We look forward to your continued support in the coming year.