In the printing industry, the majority of companies are small scale and the industry itself was originally closed. Large companies have been taking lead in internationaliza- tion, and about 10 big printing companies have advanced into China and other countries, building factories, and forming foreign corporations. Japanese printing machine is highly efficient, and more widely used than German-made machines, despite the fact that Germany is the birthplace of printing. The scale of the Japanese printing industry currently stands at 8 trillion yen and is expected to rise to 10 trillion yen in the near future. It is thought that printed advertis- ing is on the increase.
All printing inks used are Japanese.
Imports are not used at all. Recycled paper, old paper, began to be used for business cards and corrugated carton due to consideration for preservation of the environment. However, if used recycled paper for magazines or books, it makes an irritating sound when the pages are turned. Therefore, a newspaper company which had used recycled paper for its weekly magazines stopped using it due to a claim from readers. Technical improvements will be necessary to use recycled paper for this purpose.