A wave of digital and mobile phone technology is sweeping through the Japanese publishing industry as the market for electronic publishing continues to take off.
The digital publishing market has recently seen tremendous growth, chalking up sales of ¥4.5 billion in 2004, ¥9.4 billion in 2005, ¥18.2 billion in 2006, and ¥35.5 billion last year, market research company Impress R&D said.
This trend appears to be one of the main themes of the huge international book event that kicked off Thursday at Tokyo Big Sight in the Ariake district, where seven book- and publishing-related fairs are being held simultaneously, including the Tokyo International Book Fair, the Digital Publishing Fair, and the Children's Book Fair.