20-Year-Old Book Makes Comeback with "Magical POP"

On the POP (Point of Purchase) display at the front of a store is an example of an older, out-of-print publication that has made a comeback. In fact, the book is currently selling strong across the country. Organizational Principles for Thinking by Shigehiko Toyama (Chikuma Bunko) is a collection of essays on methods of thinking first published in 1983. Even the pocketbook version first published in 1986 is now more than twenty years old. With the fortieth printing of this book on December 14, the total number of copies has exceeded 370,000, with sales in the last year comprising more than half of this number.

The person who made this all happen was Daisuke Matsumoto (30) of the Sawaya Bookstore in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture. Sometime last fall while browsing through some Chikuma pocketbooks, Matsumoto's heart was captivated by one. "As I've grown older, I've had increasing opportunities to reflect on the act of thinking itself, and this book gave me the answers I've been looking for."

Matsumoto quickly made a handwritten POP display with the catch phrase, "I couldn't help thinking . . .if only I had read this when I was younger. . . " and then stacked copies of the book to create a display in the shop. Little by little, the display started to have an effect, and the bookstore sold 90 copies in about three months.

When Matsumoto informed Takuya Kubo (28) from the Sales Promotion Department of Chikuma Books of his POP, Kubo decided to make similar displays all over the country. After gaining Matsumoto's consent, Kubo scanned the handwritten POP and tried it out in a number of shops with positive results. Kubo named this the "Magical POP" and continued to send out faxes encouraging stores to display the POP together with copies of the book. It took approximately two to three months for the movement to have an effect nationwide. Chikuma also produced a large, durable POP for distribution. Even in shops without space for a POP, simply writing the catchphrase on a band which is then wrapped around the book has been enough to make it stand out and increase sales.

The author of the book is Shigehiko Toyama, professor emeritus of English literature at Ochanomizu University. He has a number of publications stretching across a variety of fields including essays on reading, editing and the Japanese language. His distinctive writing style clarifies complicated content through a plain, unconventional approach that makes it easily comprehensible to readers.

Most customers purchasing the book are young people in the twenties and thirties. No one has been more surprised than the writer himself over this sudden comeback, which has occurred in just a little over a year.


*Some of the book titles are tentative translations.
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