To the extent that Japanese readers have enjoyed relatively unfettered access to the major contemporary thinkers of the West, it has been through the translations provided by these six commercial publishers. That is not to say that these publishers confine themselves exclusively to the humanities. Reaching Beyond Japan's Borders In Japan as in America, books have lately become less of an asset to be stockpiled and more of a fluid commodity to be moved as quickly as possible. A new title may disappear from view after only two or three months on the market. The books that see the light of day for even that brief moment are the lucky ones.
Editors find it harder and harder to get the books they really value into print at all.
In such trying times, the Richiesta POD project may seem at best a very small-scale attempt at a remedy. Yet its significance to this country's publishing industry, particularly in the three aspects cited above, should not be underestimated. As the intermediaries between writers and their readers, editors are in a unique position to experiment with POD as a new mode of publishing. POD, of course, is predicated on the digitization of text and images. While some might prefer to argue over whether digital text or printed text is superior, we must address instead the deeper problems that confront the publishing industry.