The imminent launch of the iPad in Japan has achieved what the Kindle or a host of another domestic launched e-readers and even widespread book reading on phones failed to do – spurred the unyielding Japanese publishing industry into action. Finally, 31 of Japan’s leading book publishers, including behemoths such as Kodansha and Shinchosha, are sitting down for the first time to establish e-book contract terms and royalties for authors as well as unified standards for electronic data management.
Hoping to fend off potential threats to their profits from Amazon.com (which hopes to have a Japanese e-reader in Japan in the near
future) and other e-reading platforms such as the iPad, the group established the Electronic Book Publishers Association of Japan (EBPAJ).
