is a Japanese phrase for books and magazines that are rented out. refers to the

book rental service Libraries have been lending books to the public for thousands of years. First libraries date back to 2600 BC during Sumerian civilization. In the modern era lending books largely happens by Public Libraries. Generally worldwide public libraries are ...

it was based on, also just simply called . began in Japan around c. 1630 because books were too expensive for common people to buy, and therefore people would prefer borrowing over buying. Some "librarians" would travel around in order to increase their clientele and make more money. The market exploded after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

all over Japan. People of both genders and all ages rented books,

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

, and monthly magazines. However, when libraries were built nationwide and publishers started to print more copies of their books and magazines so they could be sold for lower prices in the mid-1950s, the number of decreased dramatically. In modern Japan there are only a few stores left, and the market is very small. is called () in Chinese. In Taiwan, it is a store that buys the books and rents them to customers to get the profit. Usually, the books in are comics, novels, and magazines. Besides renting books, some stores help customers to order books and also provide

VCD Video CD (abbreviated as VCD, and also known as Compact Disc Digital Video) is a home video format and the first format for distributing films on standard optical discs. The format was widely adopted in Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the ...

s or

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

s for renting.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite web , last1=Aoki , first1=Deb , title=History of Manga – Manga Goes to War (Comics in Pre-War, World War II and Post-War Japan 1920–1949) , url=https://www.liveabout.com/manga-goes-to-war-2282751 , website=LiveAbout , publisher=

Dotdash Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, ...

, accessdate=August 26, 2020 , date=March 17, 2017 , quote=Another affordable option for readers ost-World War IIwere ''kashibonya'' or rental libraries. For a small fee, readers could enjoy a variety of titles without having to pay full-price for their own copy. {{cite web , last1=Liddell , first1=C.B. , title=Meet some famous Japanese ghosts of publishing , url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2010/12/24/arts/meet-some-famous-japanese-ghosts-of-publishing/#.XsUzsGhKiyI , website=

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

, accessdate=August 26, 2020 , date=December 24, 2010 , quote=Designed to be borrowed and repeatedly read, the ''kashi hon'' were sturdy, well-made books, usually with a hard cover. ... Flourishing in the '50s, ''kashi hon'' started to go out of business in the '60s when manga anthologies, featuring the work of several artists, printed in cheaper, more disposable formats, came into vogue. Book rental Books by type Japanese culture

See also

References