The clusterf*uck that is the Japanese e-book market is deftly explained today over at Publishing Perspectives in an article by Robin Birtle entitled “Push Comes to Shove: Japan’s E-book Market in 2012.”

It’s a great overview of some of the issues that have been covered here at Junbungaku over the last few months, with analysis far greater than my own on how Japanese publishing companies can help themselves out over the long run, including the reluctance of Japanese publishers to lose their fixed price laws in the switch digital, how Sony messed up, and how Kobo (and the sudden, competitive rush of the Kindle) is going to produce a lot of rapid change in the next year.

I realized for the first time that while I live here in America, how much easier it would be to just download Japanese e-books and how much money I could save simply in shipping costs (if only I lived in NYC or LA I guess). It’s the first time I’ve ever seriously considered purchasing a dedicated e-reader, but if new releases will be delayed, or even not come out in an e-book at all, I still won’t be buying one anytime soon.