Factbook

A Dynamic Compendium of Interesting Japanese Literary and Publishing Facts

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The commercial connections between Japan’s publishing industry and Onsen (hot springs) go back a long way and are highly creative[UPDATED: 9-3-2026]

Besides having thousands of publishing companies, Japan also boasts more than 26,000 hot springs and thousands of resorts and hotels with dedicated thermal baths and hot springs, known as onsen. According to official data, these resorts and hotels welcome guests for more than 137 million nights… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- Guidebooks
- History
- Travel
The commercial connections between Japan’s publishing industry and Onsen (hot springs) go back a long way and are highly creative Posted September 3rd, 2026 by Richard Nathan
Tokyo’s oldest western-style bar, Kamiya, was the favourite watering hole of several of Japan’s literary greats[UPDATED: 9-3-2026]

Opened in the 1880s, Kamiya Bar in Tokyo, a survivor of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 that killed more than 100,000 people and the devastating firebombs of the Second World War, is said to be the oldest western-style bar in Japan. Located in the… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- Culture
- History
Tokyo’s oldest western-style bar, Kamiya, was the favourite watering hole of several of Japan’s literary greats Posted September 3rd, 2026 by Richard Nathan
Japanese officials handed out a novel by Banana Yoshimoto at the 1993 Tokyo G-7 Summit[UPDATED: 9-3-2026]

Long before Japan’s Foreign Ministry had developed its official Japan Brand Program (a framework it uses today), in the 1990s its officials decided to hand out hundreds of copies of a newly translated novel, Kitchen, by Banana Yoshimoto with media packs to the hundreds of international journalists… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- translation
- Women Writers
Japanese officials handed out a novel by Banana Yoshimoto at the 1993 Tokyo G-7 Summit Posted September 3rd, 2026 by Richard Nathan
Japan’s first manga obscenity trial took place in 2002[UPDATED: 9-3-2026]

It took half a century, 51 years, from Japan’s first post-war obscenity trial for the first manga obscenity trial to take place. The erotic adult comic book, Misshitsu, Honey Room, written by Yuji Suwa, using the pen name Beauty Hair, achieved this questionable historic honour… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- Censorship
- manga
- Regulation
Japan’s first manga obscenity trial took place in 2002 Posted September 3rd, 2026 by Richard Nathan
In the 1700s, publishing books that broke Japan’s censorship rules could get an author or publisher executed[UPDATED: 9-3-2026]

Commercial publishing in Japan started in 1609, during Japan’s Edo Period (1603-1868), but as the number of publishers grew alongside increasing literary rates so did censorship. The Shogunate authorities (the government) outsourced much of their required publishing, such as directories, maps and calendars; and the encouragement… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- Censorship
- Regulation
In the 1700s, publishing books that broke Japan’s censorship rules could get an author or publisher executed Posted September 3rd, 2026 by Richard Nathan
In 1870s Japan Charles Darwin’s ‘Origin of the Species’ was popular amongst young male students[UPDATED: 9-3-2026]

Isabella L. Bird (1831-1904) records a visit to a bookshop in Japan in the 1870s in Unbeaten Tracks in Japan: An account of Travels on Horseback in the interior including visits to the aborigines of Yezo and the Shrines of Nikko and Ise, in which… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- Bookshops
- History
- Religion
In 1870s Japan Charles Darwin’s ‘Origin of the Species’ was popular amongst young male students Posted September 3rd, 2026 by Richard Nathan
Shugoro Yamamoto who refused to accept any literary prizes while alive ironically had one named after him after his death[UPDATED: 9-3-2026]

Shugoro Yamamoto (1903-1967), was not just a respected author of novels and short stories, and one of multiple pen names used by Satomu Shimizu, he was a key creative collaborator of Japan’s most famous filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998), who also loved and valued reading. Shimizu inspired… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- Kazufumi Shiraishi
- History
- Prizes
Shugoro Yamamoto who refused to accept any literary prizes while alive ironically had one named after him after his death Posted September 3rd, 2026 by Richard Nathan
Shakespeare was already being used as a student text at the Imperial University Tokyo in 1878[UPDATED: 9-3-2026]

Despite the first William Shakespeare (1564-1616) play only being translated into Japanese in 1883, 267 years after Shakespeare’s death, his plays were already being used as a student text at the Imperial University Tokyo in 1878. The American William Houghton (1852-1917), a Yale graduate who arrived… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- Educational
- History
- Shakespeare
- Textbooks
Shakespeare was already being used as a student text at the Imperial University Tokyo in 1878 Posted September 3rd, 2026 by Richard Nathan

Factbook

The commercial connections between Japan’s publishing industry and Onsen (hot springs) go back a long way and are highly creative[UPDATED: 9-3-2026]

Tokyo’s oldest western-style bar, Kamiya, was the favourite watering hole of several of Japan’s literary greats[UPDATED: 9-3-2026]

Japanese officials handed out a novel by Banana Yoshimoto at the 1993 Tokyo G-7 Summit[UPDATED: 9-3-2026]

Japan’s first manga obscenity trial took place in 2002[UPDATED: 9-3-2026]

In the 1700s, publishing books that broke Japan’s censorship rules could get an author or publisher executed[UPDATED: 9-3-2026]

In 1870s Japan Charles Darwin’s ‘Origin of the Species’ was popular amongst young male students[UPDATED: 9-3-2026]

Shugoro Yamamoto who refused to accept any literary prizes while alive ironically had one named after him after his death[UPDATED: 9-3-2026]

Shakespeare was already being used as a student text at the Imperial University Tokyo in 1878[UPDATED: 9-3-2026]

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