Bookstores vanishing from Japan with fall in population

10 comments

1. This was inevitable, even if the population wasn’t in decline. Smartphones and tablets negate the need fora bookstore, really. Kids in schools have access to chromebooks and a digital copy of their textbook.

   I had access to digital copies of books when I was in college. Saved a ton on book costsand could access it from my phone, If I needed to.

2. Getting tired of the demographics being blamed for everything. The population of Tokyo has grown every year this century except for the most recent 6 months. Bookstores are vanishing because of online media and shrinking disposable income due to economic mismanagement by the ruling party.

3. 30% of bookstores gone since 2012, due to a [-0.53% drop in population?](https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/JPN/japan/population-growth-rate#:~:text=The%20current%20population%20of%20Japan,a%200.37%25%20decline%20from%202018.)

   Forgive me if I don’t buy the argument.

4. I mean there were just an impressive amount of bookstores here anyways.

   But…there still are. “Vanishing” is an overstatement. They are still ubiquitous.

5. Noooooo!!! I love Japanese bookstores!!!

6. The title is a bit misleading, here is the opening paragraph (emphasis added):

   “hit by a combination of a falling population and the **spread of the internet**.”

7. Yeah, I also closed my bookstore. Thousands of books thrown away.

8. wow. i checked if it is a onion news headline…

   pony express in danger because of gloablization!

9. I get it but this is so sad. I remember loving the book stores there when I lived in Nagoya in the early 90s. There’s just something special about them. I’d browse around for hours, the English section, the Japanese sections, all of them, even though my Japanese was shaky at best. I know they’re not all gone. I got lost in one near Shinjuku for hours a few years ago when I visited for JLPT prep. I’m definitely guilty of over-romanticizing a lot of things about Japan, but imo the bookstores don’t need it. They’re special on their own.

10. Japan prints too many pointless books anyway.

    There are even books on how to use Google…