Bungei Shunjū Ltd. was established in 1923 by the best selling writer Kan Kikuchi. The Japanese company publishes 400 fiction and nonfiction books and ten cultural magazines including the leading monthly magazine Bungei Shunjū.
Bungei Shunju grants the annual Akutagawa Prize, established in 1935, one of the most prestigious literary awards in Japan, as well as the annual Naoki Prize for popular novelists and the annual Bungei Shunjū Manga Award for achievement in Manga literature.
The publisher is well known for its tradition of discovering new literary talent, and it keeps a high profile in freedom of speech and anti-piracy issues.
Analysis & Key Developments
Financial
Revenues at Bungei Shunju increased slightly in fiscal year 2013, yet dropped back to earlier levels in 2014. There has been a continuous decline since 2007, when revenues fell from 31 billion JPY that year to 25.47 billion JPY in 2011.
International
Bungei Shunju operates an office in New York, US.
Bestseller
Bungei Shunjū is the Japanese publisher of Haruki Murakami. In spring 2013, it released the author’s latest novel, which translates as The Colorless Tasaki Tsukuru and the Year of His Pilgrimage. The book instantly outsold the internationally acclaimed previous novel 1Q84.
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