Over 60% in Japan read no books each month, majority for 1st time

20 comments

1. [deleted]

2. The problem is they don’t see it as a problem either, reading Manga is enough but some don’t read even that.

3. Each month???

   For most of the west the average is that 50% don’t even read one book per YEAR!

4. Which source?

5. [In Japan, where adults are the least educated in Asia](https://www.benesse.co.jp/brand/category/education/20200903_1/)

   >A survey study shows that “among Asian countries, Japan has the least number of adults learning”.

   [Why Do Japanese People Stop Studying? Why the World’s Best Children Become Low-Level Adults](https://www.sbbit.jp/article/fj/133824)

   >The ability of the Japanese is extremely low in the world ranking when evaluated at the working level. However, at the elementary and junior high school level, they are among the best in the world. This indicates a major problem in universities and other institutions of higher education. Why do Japanese people stop studying?

   >Previously, we showed that Japan’s performance is extremely poor in terms of the number of scientific papers per population. By some indicators, it is near the lowest in the world. This is not the only reason why Japan’s performance is undesirable. Various international competitiveness rankings have been published, and Japan’s performance is consistently poor.

   >For example, Japan performs extremely poorly in the International Competitiveness Ranking, the Global Talent Ranking, the Global Digital Competitiveness Ranking, and the EF EPI English Proficiency Index Ranking, all of which are produced by the Swiss business school IMD.

   [Japan is not even aware that it is not learning… the real reason why Japan has become the most uneducated country in the world](https://president.jp/articles/-/68473?page=1)

   >Japanese businesspersons do not “learn” as much as their counterparts in other countries.

   >Yuji Kobayashi, senior chief researcher at PERSOL Research Institute, says, “Motivation to learn is easily generated through interaction with others. However, Japanese people have one of the world’s worst rates of not socializing with colleagues and friends, making it difficult for them to develop a motivation to learn. In other words, the poverty of connection leads to a lack of learning”.

   Look at all these people in denial and downvoting this comment, lmao.

6. Sheesh, my family must be pulling those numbers up cause there is a constant churn of books in and out of our house.

7. Really? Anecdotally it seemed to me that Japanese people read more than the average American.

8. The survey includes e-books but not magazines or comics. Okay. So what do the statistics look like if you include those?

9. What do you regard as a book? Think that number is much much higher and they are just saying they are reading to sound smart.

10. And it shows.

11. Not even manga?

12. Some surveys in the past noted how more elementary students read books than high school students. When asked, students said that having a reading time at school was a priority in elementary school. In high school, there was no such time or encouragement.

    At my private high, a 10-minute reading time was included at the school every morning as a part of a campaign some 20 years ago. But for the last 10 years, many teachers were trying to get rid of it for more time to do something else. I fought my best against that, but it just changed this last April. Result? You barely see anyone reading anything anymore. Whereas around 10 students per class would continue to read something throughout the day, now it’s maybe 2 to 3 students tops.

13. reading reddit count as reading?

14. I live next to a library, can never find my kid in the house when she was in elementary school. Probably consumed all the books there, she goes there now only to pick up the books she reserved online.

15. Study reveals no one at all but a dozen long bearded scientists read stone tablets anymore. Ancient romans outcry!

16. Lmao. Some Japanese survey

17. Nowadays there are more than enough distractions available to young people that easily take time away from reading book.

    Still, those who chose to avoid reading book will miss out a lot of knowledge and creativity in life.

18. It’s kind of hard to find interesting and engaging books these days. After watching the Shogun on Disney Plus (and remembering the original Shogun series on a DVD), I got the original Shogun book on a Kobo reader. But the book is oh sooooo long, reading it felt like a chore.

    Any suggestions are always welcome!

19. 7% people read in my home country so it’s still very high and I’m grateful to live in Japan…

20. Honestly what can you expect. The world is moving that direction, and thankfully we are able to open up Japan to more foreigners for work and living. To be honest the trains are too quiet in Japan and we need more cultures in there like louder Americans. We were able to share some culture and get a Mcdonalds on every block there. Hopefully we can continue to spread our cultures.