By Jake Adelstein TOKYO: The Japanese mafia, better known as the yakuza, has been the subject of fan magazines for decades. These magazines serve as de-facto trade periodicals for a world of vicious, autocratic thugs, men who are handy with swords and guns, sport full-body tattoos, deal in illegal contraband and laundered money, and rip off the general public; all …
Bonus Material: Be Nice to the Yakuza, Or Else
By Jake Adelstein So, you want to become a Gokudokisha 極道記者, or rather, a journalist who writes about the yakuza? Then you should now there are some unwritten rules you will be expected to follow. (Read more about yazuka fan magazines here.) 1) No writing about ongoing criminal ventures or front companies. 2) When writing about yakuza arrested for extortion, …
Global Trade Talk: Müller is “Huge,” Japan’s Diet Library to Get Googlized
By Edward Nawotka The big news of the day is certainly the Nobel Prize going to Herta Müller. No surprise, in the US Amazon is reporting “huge” demand for her books, according to Bloomberg News, which also says that Metropolitan books is going to do 5,000 copy hardcover runs of both The Appointment and The Land of Green Plums (Herztier), while …
Weekly Recap: UKs Myebook, Caribbean Fiction, Tokyo Book Fair
Earlier this week Publishing Perspectives offered you stories you’re not likely to read anywhere else. If you missed any of them, please click on any of the links below. And then, if you like what you read, please forward the link to a friend and encourage them to sign up for our daily newsletter. (Read the recap in Chinese and …
How the Tokyo Book Fair Helps Rights Seekers
By Edward Nawotka “Japanese publishers don’t have a lot of experience selling rights, so we did what we could to make it easier,” said Eiko Han, spokesperson for the Tokyo International Book Fair, which opens tomorrow and runs through Sunday. “We’ve made it so exhibitors and visitors can put their rights information online. Businesses can search and, if they are …
Bonus Material: The Godzilla of Japanese Online Shopping
By Edward Nawotka If this were a Japanese monster movie Mothra would be played by Amazon.co.jp. Amazon in Japan has always been a contender, but one that is too often on the losing side of the fight. (Recently, for example, the company was asked to pay $119 million in overdue Japanese taxes after being accused of failing to properly report …