How do book rental stores in Taiwan survive against the waves of digital media? To tell the fascinating history of book rental stores, the National Museum of Taiwan History (NMTH) is running “The Wonderful Journey of Book Rental Stores and Manga in Taiwan” (台灣租書店與漫畫的奇妙旅程) exhibition at Meiji University, Tokyo, from Oct. 6, 2023 to Feb. 12, 2024.
This exhibition focuses on Taiwan’s book rental stores, aiming to showcase the development of book rental stores on the island under different social and political circumstances to the Japanese audience. According to different eras, the exhibited content will be changed regularly in the order of “the Japanese Colonial period to the 1960s”, “the 1960s to the 1990s”, and “the 1990s to Now”, with themes such as popular genre, wuxia, and censored works included. Additionally, to show the full picture of Taiwanese and Japanese modern history, illustrations related to Taiwan and Japanese manga books will be on display.
In the press release, the NMTH mentioned that this exhibition opened at the Yoshihiro Yonezawa Memorial Library of Manga and Subculture of Meiji University on Oct. 6. The exhibition was previously held at the Kitakyushu Manga Museum at the end of 2022, and it was well-received by the audience. The NMTH then moved the exhibition to Meiji University, since it is known for being the top institute for manga research in Tokyo.
The NMTH added that the circulation of manga in the book rental stores reflects the change in the industry and market, along with the reading habits of different generations. Facing the challenge of digital media, book rental stores have transformed by diversifying their platforms so that manga reading is no longer confined to a certain time and space.
For more information about this exhibition, please visit the NMTH website.