The export of Japanese food started in earnest with sushi in the 1980s at the zenith of Japan’s postwar boom.
Today the export of ‘washoku’ (food, agriculture and fishery products) exceeds $8.7b. It’s a number that is climbing every year.
Animé is even bigger worth $29.4b in exports in 2022 thanks to the likes of Dragon Ball, Final Fantasy and the zany leaps of Super Mario.
Walk into any Japanese book store and the space devoted to anime is huge.
Japanese book exports are not yet of this magnitude but the popularity of Japanese food and of course travel are seeing more interest in Japanese literature.
UK sales of translated Japanese print fiction, excluding manga, grew 40% to around 7 million pounds ($8.9 million) in 2023 from the year before. This made Japanese the most popular original language among translated works, according to Nielsen BookData. (source: Nikkei, June 2024)
Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s “Before the Coffee Gets Cold,” has been the most popular translated fiction title in the U.K. for the last two years.
Although China is the world’s biggest book publisher followed by the U.S. Per head of population the UK is top dog.
The publishing industry in the UK and Japan work in very different ways. In Britain publishers are typically part of a large media conglomerate. Penguin for example is part of Germany’s Bertelsmann.
There are around 4,500 publishers in Japan. Most are tiny, employing 10 people or less. Many are more focused on their genre and social contribution than topping the best seller lists or profit.
Whilst most famous Western authors strive to sign with a literary agent, that concept is far less prevalent in Japan. Mieki Kawakami author of “Breasts and Eggs” which has become popular in the UK, has no literary agent to my knowledge.
Of course this presents a business opportunity, not just for books but other creative content like drama and movies. However, finding and working with prospective Japanese authors may not be quite as straightforward.