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Japanese books importer and distributor Yohan filed for bankruptcy today at the Tokyo District Court, with local reports claiming it had debts of some JPY6.5bn (£30m). Yohan Book Service, which receives business turnaround support from Yohan, and runs Aoyama Book Center, has filed for protection from creditors with TDC, with debts of JPY5.4bn.
According to corporate newswire JCN Network, the firm reported net losses of JPY1.065bn in the year ending November 2007.
Yohan, which was established in 1953 and imported books from a number of UK publishers, is thought to have been hit hard by the move towards digitisation which has been particularly popular in Japan and other developed Asian markets.
Publishers such as Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins are among those who distribute through Yohan, which was described by one sales head as dominating the market.
But Simon Bell, international director at the Publisher’s Association, said the news was “not a huge surprise”.
“The market is not in great shape - it’s really been affected by digitisation,” he said. “Japan, Korea and Taiwan are the countries most wired in, so if there is a migration to electronic publishing, it will be those countries that go first.”
He added: “Either way, it is a pretty serious matter for any company to go bust in Japan.”