Factbook

A Dynamic Compendium of Interesting Japanese Literary and Publishing Facts
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    In the 1870s Japanese bookshops already sold Western books targeting Japan’s growing student population[UPDATED: 3-1-2023]

    Isabella L. Bird (1831-1904), the British explorer and travel writer, records a visit to a bookshop in Japan in 1878 in Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, published in 1881 by G.P. Putnam and Son’s New York, in which she writes about her conversation with a bookseller: 

    He has translations of some of the works of Huxley, Darwin, and Herbert Spencer, which he says, are bought by the young men attending the higher school”. 

    “He had not a single book on any subject connected with religion”.

    And Bird wasn’t the only Victorian visitor to Japan during the 19th century to comment on Japan’s reading, book and publishing culture.

    Another fascinating similar example is Arthur Adams (1820-1878), an English physician and naturalist, who in 1870 wrote the following in his book Travels of a Naturalist in Japan and Manchuria:

    “…they delight in long poems on love and war, and have an abundance of memoirs, legends, books on etiquette, and descriptions of their ceremonies, manners, and customs. They have even, I am informed, a national encyclopedia.”

    Adams’ book includes chapters on Begging Priests, A Paradoxical Race, Unbecoming Custom, as well as The Literature of Japan.

    Adam’s book was reviewed and recommended in the international journal of science, Nature, in September 1870, on publication, which focused its review on insects, animals including the scaly ant-eater (Manis Javanica), and the natural scenery he observed. The review, perhaps not unsurprisingly, did not, like the book itself, cover the reading habits of the observed natives.

    In the 1870s Japanese bookshops already sold Western books targeting Japan’s growing student population Posted by Richard Nathan
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    When Japan was ruled by Shoguns ‘Great Learning for Women’ was required reading[UPDATED: 3-4-2022]

    Onna Daigaku, Great Learning for Women, was one of the most widely read texts for women circulated and published in Tokugawa Japan (1603-1868), when Japan was ruled by its Shoguns. 

    It was also one of the first of these types of Japanese educational books to be translated into English in the 19th century, and had an impact on the way Japan and Japanese women were viewed by the outside world. 

    By the time translations, and extracts, started appearing in the English language, Great Learning for Women was coming under sustained criticism in Japan by supporters of women’s education such as Yoshiharu Iwamoto (1863-1942). 

    And during this time, Japan’s Meiji period (1868-1912), when Japan was opening up to the West, the number of foreign visitors to Japan was increasing; as was the number of foreign books. Conversely, however, the number of new editions of Great Learning for Women being published was falling. 

    These types of instructional publications weren’t just limited to Japan. The Instruction of a Christian Woman by Juan Luis Vives (1493-1540), for instance, was first published in Latin in 1524, and was popular in 16th and 17th century Britain, and was apparently written for a future Queen of England.

    An English Quaker, Sarah Stickney Ellis (1799-1872), is another example. She wrote a series of ‘Conduct Books’ including The Wives of England in 1843  as well as The Mothers of England and The Daughters of England, that were very popular and provided moral guidance covering responsibilities and self-control and were famous for her phrase “suffer and be still.”

    That said, the date of the first edition of Great Learning for Women is unclear, the oldest extant copy is from 1733, but academics cite and reference earlier editions, dated 1729, and 1672.

    And some credit Great Learning for Women’s authorship to Ekken Kaibara (1630-1714), a Japanese philosopher and botanist, who was married to a well educated Japanese poet, Token (1652-1713), and is said to have based it on classical Chinese Confucian texts. Kaibara has been called the ‘Aristotle of Japan’, but despite this some suggest that it was actually his wife, Token, who wrote his books.

    Many instructional books were published during this peaceful and prosperous period in Japan, and the longevity of the Tokugawa period has been put down, by some, to the high priority given by the Tokugawa administration to publishing and education.

    These types of books were collectively known as oraimono, ‘letter-writing books’ as they were written using language and a format similar to that used in correspondence. They targeted both girls and boys, and men and women. Their distribution expanded alongside commercial publishing in Japan in the 17th century

    Great Learning for Women was a type of instructional manual, which has been described by feminists as a primer for women’s repression in Japan. It was not the only one, others included Onna Imagawa, the Imagawa House Rules for Women

    Later editions of Great Learning for Women were illustrated and contained practical information, as well as the so-called Moral Code for Women that the British travel writer Isabella L. Bird (1831-1904) cites, reproduces and quotes from in her 1881 book, also written in the form of letters to her sister, Unbeaten Tracks in Japan. Her book had a signifiant enduring impact on how Japan was viewed from afar.

    The introduction to the English translation written by Shingoro Takaishi (1878-1967), a former president of the Mainichi Shimbun, an important Japanese newspaper, and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), published in 1905 by John Murray the London-based publisher that also published Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, is below. 

    The John Murray edition contains sections on: Girl’s Instruction, Demarcation between the Sexes, Seven Reasons for Divorce, including 1) disobedience to in-laws 2) infertility 3) lewdness 4) jealousy 5) leprosy 6) talking too much and 7) compulsive thievery; as well as sections on: The Wife’s Miscellaneous Duties; The Treatment of Servants; and The Infirmities of Women.

     

    Shingoro Takaishi’s Introduction

    The sole basis of the entire moral teaching of Japan may be said, in the briefest phrase, to consist of the spirit of unselfishness.

    Thus, humility in place of ostentation, reserve in place of reclame, self-sacrifice in place of selfishness, forbearance in place of impetuosity, and complete submission to authority are the principal features of the Japanese moral code; on these cornerstones stands the whole edifice under which the Eastern people have been brought up.  

    The Onna Daigaku, or the ” Greater Learning for Women,” which is the text of this little book, is, as its title indicates, a half-dogmatised precept exclusively intended for women. 

    The author is Kaibara Ekken, the famous moralist of Japan who flourished about two hundred years ago.  Kaibara Ekken was a great scholar of Japanese literature, with an immense knowledge of Chinese ethics. 

    It is beyond question that his idea of morality was, to a great extent, formed on Chinese lines, as most of the other thinkers’ and moralists’.

    The full text of the English translation can be read here.

    Despite or because of this, Great Learning for Women was well respected and was distributed in Japan under the premise that women could read, which was not the case in some countries at that time. 

    Compulsory education was introduced in Japan for boys and girls in 1872, and literacy rates, already high in Japan compared to most nations, subsequently increased rapidly reaching one of the highest levels internationally. 

    The year before compulsory education was introduced, in 1871, Japanese women were allowed to attend university in the United States, a right that was limited to the privileged few. One such student Umeko Tsuda (1864-1929) went on to found Japan’s first private college for women in 1900 on her return. 

    In comparison, in 1869 six British women become the first to pass an examination to enter the University of London, allowing them to become the first women in the United Kingdom to attend university.

    When Japan was ruled by Shoguns ‘Great Learning for Women’ was required reading Posted by Richard Nathan
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    Japan is the world’s fourth-largest publishing market[UPDATED: 12-29-2019]

    According to the International Publishers Association (IPA), Japan’s publishing market is the fourth-largest in the world, making it a very large domestic business sector, as publishing is a major global business. 

    The sector, however, is in fact underweight relative to other nations, as Japan’s overall economy is the world’s third-largest. 

    In comparison, for example, Japan is the second-largest country market for recorded music (Japanese people still buy a lot of CDs). Music, however, is a smaller overall market worldwide. 

    Not only is the Japanese publishing market underweight, it is shrinking and has been for two decades. In stark contrast to Japan, all the other markets in the global top 5 are either stable or growing.  

    China, is ranked number 2 in the world in terms of publishing market size, and like its overall economy, is growing the most rapidly at 9 percent. In fact, it is now almost three times the size of the Japanese market for books and publications. 

    The three other leading markets, however, are all stagnant experiencing zero overall growth; the United States the largest, Germany the third-largest, and France the firth largest, as measured by the IPA in its Global Publishing Monitor 2014 report. 

    The Japanese market is 76 percent the size of the German market, and 28 percent larger than the French market, while the United States’ market is five times bigger than Japan, according to the IPA.

    However, other IPA reports and analysis rank the markets differently including the United Kingdom in the top five and Japan as the firth not the fourth largest domestic market.
    Japan is the world’s fourth-largest publishing market Posted by Richard Nathan
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    In 2017 JK Rowling was overtaken by a Japanese crime fiction writer as the top royalty-earning international author in China[UPDATED: 2-27-2018]

    In 2017 the Japanese crime fiction master Keigo Higashino, author of The Devotion of Suspect X and many other titles, overtook JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series as the highest non-Chinese royalty-earning author in China. 

    JK Rowling has headed the annual ranking for a number of years and Higashino is the first Japanese author to make it to the top of this list. His royalties surpassed US$3.5 million (2.2 million RNB) in 2017 – a year when the Chinese translation of his Miracles of the Namiya General Store was Amazon’s bestselling paperback in China, and the website’s third bestselling e-book. His novel Journey Under the Midnight Sun was also Amazon’s fourth bestselling paperback in 2017. 

    According to China Daily, Higashino’s novels have made it into Amazon’s top 10 bestseller rankings for four consecutive years since the Chinese edition of Miracles of the Namiya General Store was first published in 2014. 

    Born in Osaka, Higashino started writing novels while still working as an engineer at Nippon Denso Co, a leading supplier of advanced technology for the automobile industry. He won the coveted Edogawa Rampo Literary Prize, which is awarded annually to the finest mystery work, in 1985 aged 27, for his novel After School (Hokago). He subsequently quit his job to focus full-time on writing.
    In 2017 JK Rowling was overtaken by a Japanese crime fiction writer as the top royalty-earning international author in China Posted by Richard Nathan
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    Book prices in Japan are fixed[UPDATED: 2-14-2018]

    Despite Japan’s 1953 Anti-Monopoly Law, books published in Japan are still sold at fixed prices, as was the case before the Second World War.

    Japan’s Anti-Monopoly Law has an exception for publications. Under the Resale Price Maintenance System publications, including books, must be sold across Japan at a fixed price.

    According to the industry “this enables the distribution of a wide variety of titles in small volumes and allows for royalties to be paid on books with small initial print runs”.

    It has, however, created opportunities for secondhand booksellers like Book-Off, that sell titles that are technically secondhand, but are in almost new condition.

    At pixel time Book-Off, founded in 1991, has more than 1,000 stores and annual sales of 52 billion yen. Other opportunists, wanting to sell books at low prices, exploit Amazon Marketplace.

    In Japan books are not exempt from Consumption (sales) Tax, as is the case in some countries. However, e-books sold into Japan by international (non-Japan-based) retailers are exempt from this tax.
    Book prices in Japan are fixed Posted by Richard Nathan
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    One of Japan’s major bookshop chains is named after a highly innovative trendsetting publisher of woodblock prints[UPDATED: 2-12-2018]

    Juzaburo Tsutaya (1750-1797) was an Edo Period (1603-1867) publisher of woodblock prints with the Midas touch. He nurtured many of Japan’s most famous ukiyo-e (woodblock) artists and authors and had a “discerning eye for discovering new talent” as well as an amazing talent for promotion. 

    He successfully mentored many including: the polymath Santo Kyoden (1761-1816), the highly regarded Utamaro Kitagawa (1753-1806) and the somewhat mysterious Sharaku Toshusai who was only active for a 10-month period during which he created many iconic prints that helped define the genre, and are now familiar images worldwide. 

    Tsutaya is probably most famous for turning Kusazoshi books (genres of popular woodblock-printed illustrated literature) and ukiyo-e into fashionable, must-have items. And has been described as one of the most important Edo Period trendsetters. He also published and distributed the Yoshiwara saiken, an extremely popular guidebook to the Yoshiwara licensed “pleasure district”. 

    Tsutaya, currently one of Japan’s trendiest retailers and bookshops, founded by Muneaki Musada, takes its name from a business owned by its founder’s grandfather, which was called Tsutaya in homage of the trendsetting risk-taking Juzaburo Tsutaya. 

    According to the company’s website: “Though many years fall between our times and the Edo Period” Culture Convenience Club (the name of the corporate owner of the bookstore chain) has the stated goal to “become the premiere Planning Company for Information Distribution” emulating “the achievements of Juzaburo Tsutaya”. 

    This is a hard act to emulate as the historical Tsutaya had the rare combination of having a brilliant knack for promotion as well as being able to manage highly creative talent. 

    Jippensha Ikku (1765-1831), the bestselling author and illustrator of titles such as the comic novel Shank’s Mare, which follows two amiable scoundrels on a madcap trip along the Tokaido highway leading from Tokyo to Kyoto, is another example of a highly creative individual who formed part of the Tsutaya talent pool. 

    Ikku, who was born in Shizoka, lived with Tsutaya as a young man and acknowledged that this experience and the diverse range of people he met at Tsutaya’s house helped him develop his stories and become probably the most successful author of his generation. He was reportedly the first person in Japan to be able to support himself on literary earnings alone. 

    The modern-day Tsutaya opened its first shop in 1983 in Osaka and the “Planning Company” now runs Japan’s largest bookstore and movie, music and game-rental chain. Its founder has become one of Japan’s richest men; something that would probably delight his grandfather who admired Juzaburo Tsutaya so much.
    One of Japan’s major bookshop chains is named after a highly innovative trendsetting publisher of woodblock prints Posted by Richard Nathan
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    The number of bookstores in Japan is 60% higher than the typical print run of a newly published title[UPDATED: 2-12-2018]

    For newly published titles to be stocked at all book retailing outlets in Japan, initial print runs of  16,000 are often said to be required. However, most new books have print runs of less than 10,000.

    The number of stores as well as the size of initial print runs have been falling, the number of bookshops, for example, has fallen by almost 40 percent since the 1990s.
    The number of bookstores in Japan is 60% higher than the typical print run of a newly published title Posted by Koji Chikatani
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    Japan has 14,000 bookshops, and more bookshops per capita than the United States[UPDATED: 2-12-2018]

    At pixel time Japan had 14,000 bookshops, according to the Japan Book Publishers Association (JPA), of which 4,000 belong to the Japan Booksellers Federation.

    However, in the 1990s there were more than 20,000 bookstores in Japan. The number of bookstores – especially independent stores – like in many countries, has been in decline.

    Nevertheless, Tokyo still has a very large number of bookstores with a ratio of one for every 1.3 square kilometers. In addition, Tokyo also boasts 630 secondhand bookstores. 

    Today, there are approximately 6,100 people per bookstore in Tokyo compared to a national average of around 7,700. This is a much higher per capital ratio than in the United States (27,350), the United Kingdom (15,000) and South Korea (13,300).
    Japan has 14,000 bookshops, and more bookshops per capita than the United States Posted by Koji Chikatani