Last I checked, the Kindle isn't sold in Japan, but you can put text files, and manga/book scans on it. There's just no Japanese dictionary functionality. Kindle 4 might be different though, but I doubt it'll change too much. Since it's not sold in Japan, they don't have much reason to add Japanese dictionaries, though a English-Japanese version of EDICT is available.

thurd wrote:

Bokusenou wrote:

Last I checked, the Kindle isn't sold in Japan, but you can put text files, and manga/book scans on it. There's just no Japanese dictionary functionality. Kindle 4 might be different though, but I doubt it'll change too much. Since it's not sold in Japan, they don't have much reason to add Japanese dictionaries, though a English-Japanese version of EDICT is available.

They do advertise the ability to display Japanese fonts and I see salarymen with Kindles in trains so it could be an interesting market for them. Who knows maybe this generation is IT?

Kindle 4 could be different since there are complaints about the current popup English dictionary because it doesn't get phrases, hyphens etc. all thanks to a stupid design choice to distinguish words based on spaces...

I would love this generation to be "IT" (and for the Japanese features to carry over to the English version XD), but so far the only announcements I've seen about the Kindle 4 on Japanese sites have been about, or translated from the English announcement. Wouldn't there be something on Amazon.co.jp about it if this was "it"? Unless Amazon is only going to release a Japanese one later in the year, which might happen, but I would hope they would spend a lot of time promoting it before it comes out, like they did in the US.

Does anyone know if there's a reason why there's no Japanese Kindle store? Are e-books available anywhere else? I remember someone slagging Japanese publishers for being too backwards, but I don't know the details.

I'm thinking of ordering a kindle right now actually, but I'm not too fussed about Japanese if there isn't a decent selection of books available. It would be amazingly convenient considering how painful and expensive it is to order J-books from overseas though.

Edit: I just ordered one. Hopefully they aren't already sold out and I don't have to wait.

Last edited by Javizy (2011 October 02, 9:59 am)

i've heard that credit cards and buying things online is uncommon in japan (relative to europe and the US), so perhaps that's the reason e-books haven't taken off there?

TheVinster wrote:

So let me ask another question. We've established you can load PDF and text files onto it, but can you load it on in the correct Japanese format? For example I have a text file of キノの旅, if I throw it on a Kindle can I make it read vertically and correctly?

I've only found a way to load Aozora Bunko texts vertically, but not other text files. Other text files are shown horizontally.

the Sony thing has http://ebookstore.sony.jp/

Would have though Amazon would be pushing the kindle in Japan...

There is a new dictionary feature in iOS5, but from the info on the web I can't work out if using it rikaichan style will be possible.

There are a few kindle versions of EDICT out there, and then there's this: http://junbungaku.wordpress.com/2011/11 … e-e-books/

Splatted wrote:

Bokusenou wrote:

There are a few kindle versions of EDICT out there, and then there's this: http://junbungaku.wordpress.com/2011/11 … e-e-books/

So instead of being against the law, price fixing IS the law in Japan! I guess since I've just started studying economics in Japanese, this would be a good thing to read up on.

Yeah, seems that way. It looks like Amazon is going to have it tough negotiating with Japanese publishing companies...Though I kind of see why the companies don't want to get ripped off by losing control of setting the prices (i.e iTunes). It would be nice if they really did manage to make a Amazon Japan ebook store by the end of the year though...It would be even nicer if it didn't cost anything extra to buy the ebooks internationally too. XD

TheVinster wrote:

So let me ask another question. We've established you can load PDF and text files onto it, but can you load it on in the correct Japanese format? For example I have a text file of キノの旅, if I throw it on a Kindle can I make it read vertically and correctly?

Short answer: If you can save it as a pdf file, then yes.

huh? how can they possibly justify a delivery fee to a kindle...?!?

chamcham wrote:

So amazon might release the kindle by the end of the year in japan.
Personally, I do not care which publishers go with amazon and which don't.

Just having access to ANY modern Japanese novels would be enough for me.

Much of the j-music I listen to includes artists that my Japanese friends have never heard of.
I do not really go by what is popular.
I just download random music and keep what I like.

So even if Amazon goes along with unknown independent authors and have few established publishers, it would be enough for me.

Also, if you've read recently, the Japanese book publishers put their support behind EPUB3 as the standard ebook format. This is big news because EPUB3 is an international standard (i.e. it is made by gaijin). Japanese publishers really don't want to open their market to the outside world. Japan tried to support Sharp's homegrown XMDF format, but it failed.

So this might be a golden opportunity for amazon.

I guess we will have to wait and see.

You know, if you don't mind indie authors, you might want to check out Smashwords.
There are surprisingly a lot of Japanese books there, e.g
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/kulemai
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/helloken1
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/masahikokimoto

I don't know how good any of them are, but I found a lot of Japanese novels when I searched for "Japanese".

ugh. i'm bored of waiting.

so... if i buy a kindle from the UK, can i buy books from the sony ebook jp store?? i don't really understand how these things work.

if i can buy books from the sony ebook store & they work on the kindle, and there's a version of edict on the kindle (would it also work on sony ebooks??), that's all i need really...

Last edited by IceCream (2011 December 28, 4:06 am)