About JBPA

Word from the President

I have been appointed as a new president of Japan Book Publishers Association. Taking over this important role under a harsh situation that Publishing World is facing, I am determined to contribute myself for the benefit of the publishing industry and I sincerely request the cooperation of all parties concerned.

Japan has a long history of books for over a thousand years. Since ancient times people in Japan gained a lot of knowledge through books, have deepened their thoughts, and have enriched their hearts. Publishing Industry has always been responsible for the publication of books that is necessary for these activities.

However, today, the book industry has many hard challenges to overcome. Commencing with the logistics problem, the number of sales that continue to stagnate, the management with the newly established compensation system for educational use of publications, the action against piracy and copyright education, the request to apply reduced tax rate for VAT on books, the way of cooperation with library and the new approaches to international and digital markets are just part of urgent topics that we have to undertake quickly. Our mission is to deal with these issues and help publishers to find solution for the new challenges that we all face. And I believe that this is the goal of our Association.

As one of the measures in response to the current situation, we will establish a new "Content Promotion Committee". The aim of this new committee is to urge a further utilization of the contents that has been accumulated for many years by the publishers. Seeking an innovative system in contents distribution and furnishing a progressive digital environment the issues that we should put in action right now from a medium- to long-term perspective. We will give all supports and aids in researches and all other measures in order to achieve this goal for new possibilities in the publishing business.

Also, spreading the joy of reading to the potential readers is a very important role of us as well. We in the world of books are too used to hear the unpleasant news such as trend away from reading books and shrinking book market It is true that the number of readers and reading times are decreasing, but the main reason of these tendencies is because we are giving neither of the right information of books we publish nor the joy of reading, while diversification of the media advances, and means greatly changes to get information.

We shall reconsider the role of publishing once again and seek to "disseminate information about books and the joy of reading widely" and "deliver as many books as we can, that we have made with love"

We sincerely ask for your guidance and cooperation.

Mr. Masaru Onodera, President

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