Japanese Office workers or salarymen and other shoppers enjoy a week long secondhand book market outside Shimbashi station in Tokyo. Japan The market runs from November 15th to November 21st and takes place every 5 months. Japan has a 99% literacy rate and boasts a large publishing market that has however been in steep decline since the 1990s when due to Japan`s lowering economic conditions companies like Book Off, that opened its first store in 1990 and now circulates over 200 million books a year through nearly 900 stores nationwide and internationally made the buying and selling of secondhand books popular and acceptable. Shimbashi, Tokyo, Japan November 18th 2009
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