A Rare Trend Line in Japanese Book sales

The Kyodo News reports, “A decades-old trend in Japan of ‘strong magazine sales, weak book sales’ might have finally come to an end.” A major Japanese wholesaler bookseller, Nippon Shuppan Hanbi, Inc, has announced that its “unconsolidated” books sales for fiscal 2015 through March 2016 “grew slightly” from the previous fiscal year to 247.6 billion yen ($2.42 billion)—topping magazine sales, at 243.5 billion yen, “for the first time in 32 years.” A senior official with the company is quoted as saying that strong book sales at bookstores have continued into the current fiscal year, saying. “It seems a slump in book sales has finally hit bottom.” And while magazine sales have dropped 9.9 percent—attributed to “weaker sales of women’s fashion magazines”—as The Japan Times has reported, the success of comedian Naoki Matayoshi may have played into the scenario, as well. Source: publishingperspectives.com/