Long gone are the book stores that were once common all around the US: B. Dalton Booksellers, Waldenbooks and even Borders have gone the way of the dinosaur; only Barnes & Noble still stands (or at least it still did when I left America. Hit me up in the comments if things have changed since then.)
Here in Japan, though, things are just a little different, books are smaller than they are in America to make it easier to read on the bus and train. Those huge "tomes" that Americans lug around (Stephen King's It and The Stand, I'm looking at you!) would be impossible to whip out on the train and so in Japan, they would actually split the book into three or maybe four smaller books and sell it as a box set similar to when TV seasons are released in the US on DVD.
Book stores are still alive and well in the Land of the Rising Sun, too and every single mall still has a book store in it just like the "good 'ole days" back in the US. Sure the Kindle has been released in Japan and eBooks are very popular here too, but it doesn't seem to have killed the book industry like it did back home. Could it be due to the fact that there are many more elderly people living in Japan? It could be, but you could just as easily chalk it up to tradition.
In Japan, tradition is huge. Some things exist in Japan strictly because they always have. It also explains why Nintendo, the biggest video game manufacturer in the world, still make hanafuda cards just like they did over 120 years ago!
But let me go one step further and really blow your mind. Take a look at the photo. What do you see? It is a freaking book vending machine. Yeah, you read that right, books are so popular here that they get their own vending machines that are set up in train stations around Japan! How awesome is that?!
So Japan is not only a mecca of anime, manga and video games; but it is slowly becoming a mecca for the printed book, as well!
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