JAPAN’S CHRISTMAS BOOK SALES LAG
January 1st, 2012
BY JULIAN RYALL, IN TOKYO
A NOVEL that was turned into a television drama, along with a diet and recipe book topped the best-sellers list in Japan this past Christmas and New Year, although the industry overall saw no great surge in purchases.
"Sales have been decreasing every year for around 15 years now, after the peak of 1996," said Seeichi Higuchi, spokesman for the Japan Book Publishers Association. He said that widespread use of mobile devices and the internet, although Japan's declining population is also a factor. According to Higuchi, while ...
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