Society · Companies and people
Japan’s used bookstores saw sales quintuple as 50 tons of books shipped to the US
This story was updated after publication (Oct. 9, 2026). Details
Export records show a group company of a major Japanese distributor shipped more than 50 tons of books, roughly 100,000 volumes, to the United States. Bulk orders running since August concentrated on philosophy, history, political history, medicine, law and Edo-period titles, and some sellers describe days at five times normal volume. The books have their bindings cut off, are scanned and then destroyed. An important caveat: no buyer has been named publicly, and the AI-training motive is an inference, not a documented fact.
Sources
- Nippon TV (日テレNEWS NNN), “【独自】古書店で「謎の大量注文」相次ぐ……AI学習か 米国向け「日本の本 50トン」の輸出記録も”, (news.ntv.co.jp)
Corrections and updates
- After this story was published, Japanese book wholesaler Nippan Group Holdings confirmed on October 7, according to Jiji, that its subsidiary Nippan IPS sold books to Anthropic between December 2024 and December 2025, and said it was unaware the purchases were for AI training. No link to the 50-ton export or to the used-bookstore orders since August has been disclosed.
About this story
This story was posted on Instagram by @jarrus.tech on Sept. 25, 2026.
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Short link: thejarrus.com/en/japan-used-books
This story in Turkish: Japonya’da sahafların satışı beş katına çıktı, 50 ton kitap ABD’ye gönderildi
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