Japan bookstore count falls below 10,000 for first time
The total reached 9,993 stores at the end of March 2026. During the prior fiscal year, 102 new stores opened while 499 closed.
The Japan TimesJapan had 9,993 bookstores at the end of March 2026, the first time the count has fallen below 10,000 since tracking began in 1994. The Japan Publishing Organization for Information Infrastructure Development survey showed the figure equals just over 40 percent of the 1998 peak of 24,237 stores.
Closures and openings During fiscal year 2025, which began in April 2025, 102 new bookstores opened while 499 closed. The pattern of more closures than openings has continued for more than two decades. The steepest annual losses occurred in the 2000s, when more than 1,000 stores closed each year against roughly 500 openings.
Between 2022 and 2024, fewer than 100 stores opened annually while more than 500 closed.
Regional gaps As of August 2025, 498 municipalities had no store selling newly released books, nearly 30 percent of all cities and towns. Five prefectures recorded rates above 50 percent without such stores.
Sales decline Nationwide sales of physical books and magazines have fallen sharply since the mid-1990s peak. Book sales dropped from ¥1.09 trillion in 1996 to ¥593.9 billion in 2025; magazine sales fell from ¥1.56 trillion to ¥370.8 billion over the same period.
