Cultivating Japan’s E-book Market

Publishing Perpectives

Despite Japan’s technology-driven economy, its e-book market remains small...but publishers and tech companies are looking for ways to grow this business.
During the E-Book Expo at the Tokyo International Book Fair on July 7, an international panel of publishing and technology experts addressed the current status of e-book markets around the world, and how publishers and other companies can develop the e-book market in Japan.
Masahiro Kitagawa of Impress Holdings, which owns several publishers and software companies, presented statistics and trends regarding the e-book market in Japan, and how it compares to e-book markets around the world.
According to Kitagawa, Japan’s total book market for 2010 was valued at 1.95 trillion yen ($18.6 billion), of which e-books comprised 65 billion yen ($806 million) or 3.3% of the overall market.


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