Magazine media constitutes a larger portion of the publishing industry than books. Magazines also have an important journalistic function, along with playing a role in suggesting various lifestyles.

However, there has been very little research concerning magazines carried out in Japan. Nevertheless, there were a number of magazine research projects carried out in the 1990's that deserve recognition. This paper introduces and analyzes magazine research carried out in the 1990's based on a magazine's philosophy (concepts, frequency, size, media characteristics, and mode), the current situation of magazines (overall image, trends in types and circulation, women magazines, and magazine advertisements), along with an analysis of magazine contents and magazine journalism.

The purpose of this article is to review publishing studies on the book distribution system in 1990's. In particular, this article deals with not only resale price maintenance but its mechanism (bookstores, book distributors) in two chapters. Through this review, while the deregulation policy was widely accepted since 1990's, these studies show why resale price maintenance has been kept after WW II.

This study points out several trends in the distribution system, “low book margin” “sales mix of books and other goods”, “mixture of capital from other industries” and “suburbanization of the bookstore” from the viewpoint of these studies. Bookstores moved to suburban areas and store size was enlarged to get more profit. But there remains the question “how the reader can meet books”.

Discourses on reading published in the Meiji Era are analyzed to show that they reflected the social change of the time. Thirty-three books are examined and can be classified into five categories. The first is the traditional reading of Chinese classics from the Edo Period which disappeard rapidly after the Meiji restoration. Then, the object and method of reading had undergone a radical change in order to satisfy the needs of the emerging middle class. Thus appeared the second type of reading, which pursued acquisition of pragmatic knowledge derived from the modern-Western world, followed by the third, which emphasized efficiency in the way of reading for school success. The fourth reading appeared when the upheavals had almost come to an end and the new class system took shape. It emphasized self-discipline in all aspects of life, including reading, which gave an intellectual and ethical condition to the ordinary, non-elitisitic way of life. The last type contrasts sharply with the fourth. Its purpose is to mold reader's personality through reading of humanistic works. This type was widespread among students in the newly established higher education system.

In Japan, in the last 20 years, there have been several booms in consumption of sexual symbols. I have observed the last and biggest one (“The secondary high-school girl boom”) and intend to reveal the mechanisms behind these booms.

On this connection, there have been two explanations. The first one is criticism of commercialism in mass media and the second one is criticism by essentialistic feminism. These two can explain why the booms arose, but cannot explain why they ended. Therefore, I have introduced a new concept of “eroticism for taboo.”

Today, the older generation regards the sexual behavior of adolescent girls as taboo, in contrast with that of adolescent boys. This phenomenon is the so-called “double-standard of sexual norms.”

I surmised that the booms arose from “eroticism for taboo”. But, as the booms arose, the behavior (consumption of sexual symbols regarding adolescent girls) became acceptable. So, I think that the booms ended also by “eroticism for taboo”.

I have confirmed these facts by the content-analysis of weekly magazine articles.

“Publishing” has developed its own character as a “non-mass media” to distance itself from other mass media and distinguish itself from them. This is considered the initial trigger for the establishment of the “Japan Society of Publishing Studies” alongside an existing academic society, the “Japan Society for Studies in Journalism and Mass Communication.” Furthermore, “publishing” is considered a vague from communication, and, from the marketing point of view, has characteristic features that make it appear chaotic, as it combines pre-modern aspects with modern and hypermodern aspects. The genesis of “publishing studies” was contemplated to meet the needs of a new era that required unprecedented original theories unconstrained by the conventional theories for mass communications.

Nonetheless, although “publishing studies” are acquiring new characteristics for mass-media application, lectures courses in this area are far less than the other courses focused on mass communications theories.

E-learning is booming in the United States, a global leader in the realm of information technology. The application of web-based training (WBT) to company training programs and university education has drawn much attention and e-books are currently a hot topic in the publishing industry. In this presentation, the basic functions of a book are defined as “referring”, “learning” and “reading”, and the subject of e-textbooks for online courses is explored as a natural sequel to the digitalization of reference books in electronic publishing.

Topics addressed include future prospects for the development of e-textbooks, characteristics derived from traditional paper textbooks and those that are unique to digitalized content, and the use of e-textbooks in classes. In addition, I will discuss the problem of copyright and the role of publishing companies in e-learning in consideration of market trends and the nature of electronic books, and present several proposals concerning the same.

on March 23, 2001, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) announced the final conclusion on systems for book distribution and book sales in the from of a statement on “Resale Price Maintenance (R. P. M.) System for Copyrighted Works”.

According to this statement, the R. P. M. System, should continue in its existing form for a while, ie, the publisher fixes the retail price of its own newly published books and magazines and the wholesalers and retailers must sell them at that fixed price.

This means that the provisional conclusion about this system came out as a tentative measure some twenty years after the comments on “the Request for Review on the R. P. M. System” by Mr. Hashiguchi, the JFTC Chairperson in 1978, and then, after a lapse of ten years since the progress report on the R. P. M. System in 1991 by Mr. Tsuruta, also chairperson of JFTC.

I introduce some speculations about the tasks for the future of the R. P. M. System while looking back on the process of the JFTC-publisher controversy.

In Japan, “online bookstores” service made a full-fledged start about five years ago and is now growing more popular with users increasing substantially.

In this manuscript, I define what an “online bookstore” is and, based upon the five years experience, carefully analyze the establishment of “online bookstores”, their progress, and the companies managing them.

Furthermore, I try to categorize “online bookstores” by type of services, and discuss controversial issues regarding on-line sales as well as profit performance.

I also attempt some speculations about immediate concerns and tasks for future prospects.

The international book fair is a global event intended to promote publishing on a worldwide scale and to encourage cultural exchange through publications. These two essential elements are what distinguish the international book fair from other kinds of trade fairs.

More than 80 international book fairs are held annually in what is estimated to be more than 60 countries.

International book fairs vary in type and size, but the foremost is the Frankfurt Book Fair held in Germany every October. In 1990, Japan was selected as the theme country for that year's Frankfurt Book Fair. This was a wonderful opportunity to introduce Japan's publishing culture to the international stage, and the number of Japanese participants exceeded 1,000. The event stimulated a strong interest in the international book industry among Japanese publishers, expanding their view to encompass overseas markets. Looking back, it is clear that the Frankfurt Book Fair has played a major role in the globalization of the Japanese publishing industry.

Diagrams are an effective means of communication because needed information can be selected from an immense mass, sorted out and shown in a structured form. Presented below are some examples of “diagrams on publishing” which were published in two journals ABD-Asian/Pacific Book Development, edited and published by the Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO, and JBN-Japanese Book News, edited and published by the Japan Foundation, and published in books by Japan Editor's School Press. They show a part of the environment and dynamics surrounding the publishing world. The diagrams adopt various forms of expression, including graphs, tables, flow charts, system diagrams, illustrations and maps.