Why Japan has more libraries even though people are reading less

Society

Number of facilities up 30% in two decades as they become community hubs

Some 700,000 people a year visit Tenmonkan Library, which opened in 2022 in the Tenmonkan business and shopping district of Kagoshima, southern Japan. © Kyodo

TOKYO — People in Japan are reading fewer books than they used to, but this has not stopped the number of public libraries from growing strongly.