CURRENT TOPICS
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Chopin Manuscript Score” at Poland National Library (Oct., 2004)
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Despite many drastic changes, 2004 will soon be coming to a close. Judging what 2005 will bring is proving to be difficult as many changes have happened. Who knows if a crisis will come to the Near East or how the Yen and U.S. Dollar will settle out? Also who can predict how China will influence the world? As far as Japan is concerned, as average citizens, all we can say is that with each passing year, we get older and communications become faster and faster in this technological age.
Concerning the Yushodo Group, I can report that our Yushodo Fantas business continues to be strong and continues to contribute to the overall profit of the group. This would not have been possible without the support of the newly established law schools, a total of 70 in all, and the publishers who continually produce their loose-leaf titles of the most current legal information. Generally speaking though due to the personal taxation system and the academic budget system, the overall market for both print and microform products for academics has gone down but this market still remains healthy. However I still believe that there is still quite a large market in Japan for rare and notable books that influenced world history.
In September and October, I took quite a long, worldwide trip - a total of 23 nights - for the book business from which I received a lot of impact. I have had almost 100 or more worldwide business trips over the years but even on this trip, I still could receive new ideas and views. First, as a regular member, I participated in the Association of International Bibliophiles Colloquium in Venice at the end of October and with about 150 different people, visited the most famous rare book collections and libraries near Venice. This trip was quite special for me in that I could realize one of my long held dreams, that of actually seeing and touching the "Christian Mission Press" in Marciano Library. There are only two copies in the world of this item that have survived and I discussed the possibility of producing a facsimile of this item with the library. On the way to Venice, I was invited to Pelplin, a town in northern Poland where the famous Pelplin Church is located. Their museum holds a copy of the Gutenberg Bible and this item has been published in facsimile form through worldwide cooperation, much like the HUMI project of Keio University. I was fortunate to be able to spend much time with the various staff of the printing house, such as the man who hand colors leather bindings. The Polish people are very proud of their cultural history and their professional skills and I came to a deep understanding of their ability to produce nice items for the world market year by year. Yushodo is pleased to cooperate with them and promote their Bible facsimile worldwide. We have already demonstrated this in Japan, Australia and at the Tokyo Library Fair held just last week and explained the unique history of this Bible and how it was produced under the control of the Church.
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ILAB General Meeting” at Melbourne (Oct., 2004)
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The seed of this dramatic meeting with the Polish friends was planted at the International Publishers Association Berlin Congress where I had spoken about 15 minutes on the topic of international co-publishing and distribution. The chief person of the publishing house of Poland then visited me at the site and offered some new cooperation with us. I felt that their printing and book production abilities have reached acceptance internationally.
Just after my return back from Europe, I visited Melbourne as the President of Antiquarian Booksellers Association of Japan (ABAJ) to attend the World Congress of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB). The ILAB consists of 21 different national associations and we could say it is like the United Nations of Antiquarian Booksellers. The ILAB was founded in 1947 in Europe and has a total membership of about 2000 prestigious book dealers. It has become a concern that stolen materials (books and other items) from libraries and the differences in the VAT tax have influenced our business transactions in this on-line age so we must take action to have the VAT tax reduced or cut for book business worldwide.
In order to create progress in the book business in Japan and to establish new clients who find value in books included in “Printing and the Mind of Man,” the ABAJ is planning to open an International Antiquarian Book Fair on the 49th floor of Roppongi Hills, a very unique and central location in Tokyo, as part of its 40th anniversary celebration. 2004 marks the 40th year since its foundation and a total of 24 ABAJ members and 16 members from other national associations will exhibit at the fair. I believe that it will be a top class book fair that will be widely publicized in the media. For more details concerning the fair, please access our web site, www.yushodo.co.jp or the ABAJ web site, www.abaj.gr.jp.
Due to generation changes and the budgetary changes in academic institutions and the influence of IT, totally speaking the academic books business around the world is experiencing a rather difficult time. However I still believe that original source materials and books are still very valuable and important. As mentioned at the beginning of this letter, our Yushodo Fantas continues to be the specialist and provider of legal information to both academics and legal practitioners and while most information can be accessed on on-line, there continues to be a need for the printed products and so therefore, Fantas’ business continues to develop.
As we move towards our 75th year at Yushodo, our internal structure will be gradually changed in order to give opportunities of top and responsible positions to the younger generation. It is also our wish to do more together with foreign firms and capital when we establish new business in Japan and Asia. |
