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| Seiwado Bookstore, Osaka | |
The Japanese government "intends to work on revitalizing local bookstores, which play a vital role in preserving culture," Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said last week at a general question session during a House of Representatives budget committee meeting, the Japan News reported.
During the session, former economy, trade, and industry minister Ken Saito said more than a quarter of all municipalities nationwide did not have any bookstores. "It is a grave situation that children are losing opportunities to pick up books," said Saito, who had formed the Bookstores Promotion Project Team during his tenure as economy minister.
In response, Takaichi noted: "Bookstores are vital cultural hubs in communities, allowing residents to encounter diverse works. Their role is also significant from the perspective of preserving Japan's beautiful traditional culture."
She added that the government would "continue to firmly advance the revitalization of bookstores" based on the Bookstore Revitalization Plan, which promotes the widespread adoption of IC tags for books and the introduction of an online ordering system between bookstores and publishers, the Japan News wrote.
In October, results from a survey conducted by the Yomiuri Shimbun found that 70% of respondents "said they approve of central government support that improves the business operations of bookstores and encourages people to open new ones," the Japan News reported, noting that "behind the efforts lies a sense of crisis over the decline in the number of bookstores."
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Earlier this week, the management committee for BookPeople, the Australian booksellers organization, met for its final meeting of the year. "It's one of the few times we gather in person, and it was great to be in the same room together," noted Gavin Williams, BookPeople president and owner of Matilda Bookshop in Stirling.
He added that the meeting was also notable for highlighting a change of leadership for the new year: "We were pleased to welcome incoming CEO Susannah Bowen, who joined us ahead of her early-December start. Susannah shared her thoughts on what her first six months in the role will look like, and the committee listened with real interest and enthusiasm.
"Alongside the usual business--finance reports, governance matters, and staff updates--we took time as a committee to express our sincere thanks to outgoing CEO Robbie Egan for his work over the past seven years. It was unanimously agreed that the organization is in a far stronger position today than when Robbie first stepped into the role. We thanked him wholeheartedly for his dedication to our members and the wider industry and wished him all the very best for the years ahead."
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Cool Idea: The Canadian Independent Booksellers Association posted on Facebook: "If you're in Nova Scotia and want to save money while supporting local authors and publishers, there's a new pilot program that you can be a part of right now! Eleven participating booksellers, including Block Shop Books, Lunenburg Bound in Lunenburg, Bookmark, and Woozles in Halifax, and On the Same Page Books in Sydney, will offer $10 vouchers for book lovers to use on thousands of qualifying titles. The program only runs until Feb. 28, 2026, so don't wait to grab your vouchers and show your support for great reads by Nova Scotian authors and publishers!"