Special Feature
A Family Affair
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Reality Bites
The bubble burst in the 1990s and the book market was one of the many casualties. Sales fell year by year and to make matters
worse, the ELT and trade publishers were establishing their own distribution routes. Harlequin, who were said to account for
30% of annual turnover, set up their own office. The arrival of the Internet and Amazon in particular further eroded the position
of distributors, whose special bookrates were a major reason for inflated foreign book prices. Local bookstores such as Kinokuniya
and Maruzen were quick to see the importance of online presence but Yohan failed to realize its own predicament.
On the ELT side Yohan had created School Book Service run by the publishing head Suzuki but, due a lack of understanding of how
to sell to the foreign community, they lost direction despite benefiting from very favorable terms from major publishers. Small
enterprising companies such as English Resource (under the enlightened leadership of David Harrington), Little America (formed by
ELT News contributor Helene Uchida) and Nellies were able to adapt to the evolving market and change the face of distribution.
Yohan's all-important nationwide network started to break up, with layoffs and branches being close in various parts of the country.
Yohan ceased publishing and the final straw for the company was the selling of its head office building to Waseda University and
moving personnel to rented property.
It was amidst this dramatic shift in fortunes that Yohan turned to the unlikeliest of places for help. Though the merger had been
discussed behind closed doors for six months, the industry was taken completely by surprise when the deal between Tuttle Shokai and
Yohan was announced early this month.
A New Start, or Full Circle?
The new company -- to retain the name Yohan -- is to start on June 1st and will have 70% of the general-interest Western book market,
excluding specialty publications. Tuttle Shokai President Hiroshi Kagawa (photo, left, courtesy of Tuttle Shokai) will become President and CEO while Nori Watanabe will be
appointed as Chairman. But insiders say that the arrangement is very much a buyout of Yohan by Tuttle Shokai. There is bound to be
overlap and the company is expected to close branches and shed more staff. Also the question of market monopoly may yet arise, but
Shokai will be able to benefit from Yohan's experience in ELT and the marriage may turn out to be a good one.
According to Watanabe, "The foreign books still account for a very small percentage in the English Language Teaching market, which is
estimated to amount to two trillion yen. By the formation of the new company, we hope to play an important role and make a positive
contribution to the sales growth of imported materials in the ELT market." He adds, "We hope to put our efforts on reversing the recent
downward trend of book sales by shifting our focuses from competition for the market share at bookshops to promotion and expansion of
the foreign book business in and beyond the traditional market."
Like several other people contacted while researching this story, Watanabe was at pains to point out that the various companies that
today bear the Tuttle name are unrelated. But the fact remains that over the last half century, many of Japan's major publishers as
well as the companies that have controlled foreign book distribution all grew out of one man's dream. Kodansha International, Weatherhill,
Stone Bridge, Taschen. All these companies were founded or led by former Tuttle people. It is said that even long after her husband had
given up running the business, Charles's widow Rieko Tuttle always liked to know how Yohan -- "the competition" -- were doing. Well now
they're all just part of the family again.
Related Web sites
Tuttle Shokai |
Yohan |
Tuttle Publishing (no longer related to Tuttle Shokai)
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