The Literary Flea Market Tokyo, an event to sell self-published books, was held again this spring on May 11th. According to the organizers, the number of participants in Literary Flea Market Tokyo 40 was 16,111 (4,850 vendors and 11,261 general visitors), about 1,000 more than the previous event.

In response to the dramatic increase in vendors and visitors, the venue for Literary Flea Market Tokyo was changed to the Tokyo Big Sight, where the Tokyo International Book Fair was previously held. I use the past tense to say “was” because it has not been held since 2016. For 10 years, the Japanese publishing industry has lost the ability to hold an international book fair.

How should we think about the situation in which grassroots book festivals like Literary Flea Market Tokyo are thriving, replacing the disappearance of the Tokyo International Book Fair? I myself started small-scale publishing activities after setting up a stall at the “Literary Flea Market Tokyo” two years ago. After about a year and a half of trial and error, I realized that a unique production and distribution route for independent publications and its “business practices” were being established in a completely different place from the current publishing distribution.

Traditional Japanese publishing distribution is characterized by the resale system and consignment sales, which are exempt from the application of the Antimonopoly Act, but for the past 30 years, the publishing industry has been unable to escape from structural recession. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry launched the “Bookstore Promotion Project Team” in March last year to try to stop the nationwide decline in bookstores, but a year has passed without finding any effective measures.

Amid this, one book is attracting attention. It is Kazufumi Iida’s “How Town Bookstores Have Been Ruined: The Unknown History of Postwar Bookstore Conflicts” (Heibonsha Shinsho). This book examines in detail the history of how small bookstores, or so-called “town bookstores,” that exist throughout Japan, have gone under, and the conclusion is clear. “Town bookstores” have gone under for various reasons, and if the situation surrounding bookstores remains unchanged, the decline will not be stopped in the future.

However, on the other hand, “town bookstores” and large bookstores are increasingly handling self-published works, called “zines” or “doujinshi,” that are traded at places like the “Bungaku Flea Market Tokyo.” Naturally, the distribution route for these works is different from that of traditional publications. Since last year, I have been advocating that publishing through the latter route be called “light publishing.” This is not only because these books are physically “light” (thin), but also because it is a rational production and distribution system combined with the various DXs that are currently available. On the other hand, the inefficiency of traditional publishing distribution, or “weight,” that Iida’s book points out, cannot be easily eliminated. On May 26, the Japan Association of Publishers, an industry group for publishing distribution, released a document titled “Current Status and Issues of Publishing Distribution.” The current publishing distribution system cannot be maintained without passing on the soaring logistics costs to prices. This document conveys such a distressing message.
Publishing distribution is on the verge of collapse, while “light publishing” is booming. I would like to write this column from both perspectives. Please bear with me for a while.

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