Japan's paper publication sales increased 11% in May compared with the previous year, apparently due to higher demand from consumers staying home amid the spread of the novel coronavirus, according to a major publishing publication distributor.
At about 1,750 bookstores nationwide, sales of paper publications increased 11.2% in the month from the previous year, marking the highest growth since the survey began in July 2008, Nippon Shuppan Hanbai Inc. (Nippan) said Friday.
The bookstores that responded to the survey included shops that suspended operations amid the virus-driven shutdown. Sales increased 34.2% at about 1,500 stores that remained open, according to the survey.
According to the Research Institute for Publications, estimated sales of paper publications have continued to decline since their peak in 1996.
Many consumers refrained from going out of their homes to help contain the coronavirus outbreak, likened to cocooning. The figures in May indicated a higher demand from those consumers, Nippan said.
By category, sales of children's books increased 29.8% in May from a year earlier due to the simultaneous closure of elementary and junior high schools, among others, it said.
Due to the strong sales of the mega-hit manga "Kimetsu no Yaiba" (Demon Slayer) by Koyoharu Gotoge and other titles, the sales of comics were up 57.6% year-on-year. Sales of study reference books also saw a noticeable increase in April.
With large bookstores in the central part of Tokyo suspending their operations, sales at small bookstores showed an increase.
"Sales for the two months of April and May were 1.7 times higher than normal," said Kenji Oiri, 49, president of Ohraido bookstore in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo. "Major works like 'In Search of Lost Time' by French writer [Marcel] Proust and the Iwanami Bunko series [by Iwanami Shoten] also sold well. I guess there are still some who take the time to read books."
"Many people have an attachment to paper books including school textbooks from childhood," said Senshu Univ. Prof. Yashio Uemura. "In the midst of such an environment of having people stay at home, many returned to the habit of reading a book. I don't want this to be a transient phenomenon, but rather an opportunity to rethink the merits of paper books," he said.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
