CURRENT TOPICS
At the start of the 21st century, several think tanks have been making forecasts for this new century. I think it is interesting to note that most believe that the next ten years will witness growth in all areas to the same scale of growth as the last fifty years of the 20th century. Moveable type was invented by Gutenberg in the mid-15th century and fundamentally it had not changed until the development of the computer printing process. Now because of the Internet and IT age, systems are changing even more quickly. The think-tanks also forecast that several industries will disappear, especially the distribution business and that book publishing and the distribution companies will experience decline of 30% within 10 years. The main reason for this forecast is that people generally spend their time for things other than reading. In addition to this, at least 50% more information is being accessed on-line by professionals, scholars and academics.
At Yushodo, we are now in the process of becoming more selective in our business approach. As we approach our 70th anniversary in Fall of 2002, we are planning to have some tie-up with companies that are strong in the contents area in order to start a new type of business in Japan. Also because of deflation, we will also need to be quite careful about price competition and fundamentally we will have to keep a global view in mind with respect to the contents.
From April 19 to the 22nd, Tokyo Big Sight hosted the annual Tokyo International Book Fair. As a committee member, I personally cooperated in the Fair and this year Italy was specially featured at the Fair with quite a large and charming booth. Previously other products of Italy, such as wine, food and automobiles, had been promoted in Japan but books and printed publications did not experience good sales. Their booth and books were well received by many visitors and several famous Italian writers also attended. I expect that more Italian books will now be translated into Japanese as well as Japanese books into Italian. Approximately 40,000 people came to the Fair. As a member of the committee, I believe that we should seriously consider the purpose of the Fair. Should it be more as a service to consumers or should it be more like a trade fair between publishers and dealers? Another aspect of the fair, that of the "Bargain Sale" corner, has grown in popularity and each year brings increased sales. 2002 will be the year for Korea and 2003 Germany.
In Japan, for the past 35 years Yushodo has been considered to be pioneer in the imported rare book market not only from overseas dealers but also auction houses since Japan had allowed importation of such types of materials. Yushodo also was the organizer of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of Japan (ABAJ) and was instrumental in bringing the ABAJ into the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB). Nowadays, many transactions worldwide are conducted via the Net but as far as Japanese collectors and libraries are concerned, they still need to see the actual materials before making a purchase. Therefore it is necessary to have a good and valuable inventory on hand. However I must say that I am a little afraid in that the newly rich, who have made their wealth in the IT industry, are trying to collect rare and famous items for investment purposes. This trend of course strongly influences the auction prices in New York and London and the academics at libraries are now saying that it has become nearly impossible to buy these types of books. Also there are only a few strong dealers who can meet these world prices because they have good background and clients who are able to spend quite a lot of money.
Several years ago, Yushodo introduced the New Ellesmere Chaucer Facsimile to the world market. This work, which was co-published with The Huntington Library, the owner of the original work, was produced using the latest printing and binding techniques and is a full-color exact replica of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. While we are planning to produce digital editions of such valuable items, such as CD-ROMs, for scholarly use in the future, I still believe that the real facsimile is important to scholars. Of course facsimiles still serve the very important function of preservation as well. Yushodo is planning to invest in this line and we are always open to receiving offers from libraries and co-publishers who may wish to work with us.
Yushodo has about 30 million pages of contents especially related to Japanese historical sources, both print and calligraphy. As a leading microform publisher in this area, we continue to use film not only for scholarly use but also for preservation purposes. However depending on market need, we believe that it is possible to offer these contents in on-line format. Therefore it is our plan to negotiate with both the owners and publishers of these materials such as major Japanese companies (Annual Reports) and The Japan Times (news).
In the second half of this year, the third annual Japan Library Fair will be held. This is now becoming the best place to meet and introduce our plans to the library world and the Fair will be held November 15-17 at Tokyo Forum. If you should have any inquiries about this Fair and would like more information about possibly exhibiting or joining seminars etc., please do get in touch with us. Our annual Antiquarian Book Fair as well as the Yushodo Forum 2001 will also be held at the same time as the Fair.
As I mentioned in my first paragraph, we are planning to take a rather big step toward a new business approach, an approach that will require difficult decisions and much investment on our part. Firstly, I believe it is now time to take a step away from the traditional type of business which has contributed to our growth over many years as the business environment has also changed. Secondly, this division of Yushodo is the strongest and most specialized so we need to invest more capital and power into the sales network. Thirdly, as we look to the future and cooperate with capital from overseas, we will use our experience and cooperate in bringing their contents to the market. I believe that this will be a big chance for Yushodo in its 69th year and as preparation for our 70th anniversary.
Generally speaking all of our staff are healthy even though the world around us is changing and going to change. I have strongly suggested to them that they all have some target and personal responsibilities in their daily activities.
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