Kindle in Japan: Now with unicode support!

It’s reading week in Japan! Here’s a few updates about e-book reading:

Don’t expect any e-books from Kodansha – Mainichi has an article up about the Kindle‘s introduction to Japan. Whoever wrote the article made the mistake of stating that there is a “catalog of 1,500 titles available for purchase and download” for the device, when the actual figure is close to 290,000 titles.

The article mentions one big Japanese publishing company that is not rushing to embrace digital books:

In addition, the Kindle’s Japanese-language book download service is still also under review. Whether publishers will provide books, comics and other content for the new device is going to be a crucial sticking point in its success — however, many, including Kodansha, are choosing to wait and see.

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Unicode fonts for the new Kindle – The creator of the original Unicode font hack for the Kindle is hard at work creating a new version of the hack that will be compatible Kindle 2 International. Hopefully he’ll have it complete soon, so the Kindle 2 International will actually be able to read foreign language ebooks. The Unicode hack for Kindle 2 International is now ready! Get it here!
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Big screen DSi: the next popular e-book reader? – There is some speculation that the new Nintento DSi could be used for e-book reading.

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Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Kevin

I think if publishers start to realize that the books can’t be resold, they’ll be more likely to jump on the Kindle bandwagon. They’ve always had a problem with stores like Book Off cutting into their bottom line, and this would be an easy way to strong arm themselves back to the top of the hill.

I just hope the Nook from Barnes and Noble comes out here as well, because I’d like to see the Kindle face some competition to improve title selection and quality of the hardware. The Nook even lets you loan books out to friends.
Blacknimbus

Unless the DSi comes with an e-ink display, it’s not a serious challenger. That’s pretty much the whole point of a device like the Kindle.
http://guido.demelo.de Guido

i’m always wondering about missing Unicode support, since I’m working in IT myself. A usable version of the standard has been around for more than 10 years and yet it’s still not widely embraced
yoga boy

Why are you pumping the Kindle with using your amazon affiliate link? This is such a piece of drm ridden garbage. To be even listing this is an insult to your readers.

http://www.japanprobe.com James

I own a Kindle and I am happy with it. I understand some people hate the DRM thing, but I honestly don’t have a problem with it in this particular case.

I am fine with paying $9.99 for an DRM’ed ebook. It’s far cheaper than the 1500-2000 yen I’d pay for the same title at a Japanese book store, and I only need to copy the ebook file once onto my device.

I don’t feel I am insulting readers of this site by linking to a product I own and use every day.

(Note: If anyone buys a Kindle through that link, 100% of the affiliate points earned will go straight back into buying e-books for my Kindle.)

Deepspacebeans

DSi speculation is bad speculation. I certainly cannot see myself straining my eyes reading a screen with a backlight.
k

Personally, I like rummaging through a library to find a book, more often than not I end up finding something thats even better than the book I as searching for in the first place.
AllNippon

Releasing a product with the word “international” in its name yet not supporting international character sets …

The whole world speaks English, right!?
aussie

say hello to the kindle killer fanboys!
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10387880-1.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Kindle in Japan: Now with unicode support!

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