Books Crisis in Japan
Experts in Japan say the publishing industry is facing a historic crisis, the Japan Times reports. More than 200 new books are published daily in the country, and the total market for books and magazines surpasses ¥2 trillion. But hundreds of bookstores nationwide shut down every year, and the market has largely been shrinking since 1996.
The number of shops belonging to the Japan Booksellers Federation, a national industry group of bookstores selling newly published books, came to 5,869 in 2008, down from a peak of 12,953 in 1986. One reason is that people are simply reading fewer books while tapping into other new media that have emerged in recent years.
According to an annual survey by the Yomiuri Shimbun, 52% of 1,812 adult respondents said last October they had not read a book in the previous month, 14 points ahead of the figure recorded 20 years earlier.
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