Hiroki Kageyama on Japanese Local Publications: Local Areas Are More Interesting and Warmer Than Tokyo

Local publications are flourishing in Japan, centered on local features, daily life, food and people, conveying the unique character of each place. They not only bring local people into closer communication with one another, but also make outsiders want to visit and see for themselves whether these places are as beautiful and warm as the books describe. Japanese editor and writer Hiroki Kageyama spent a year exploring the charm and workings of local publications, and compiled his findings into the book "The Advancing Japanese Local Publication."

Kageyama recently came to Taiwan and said in an exclusive interview with "Upstream and Downstream" that the importance of local publications lies in the fact that local areas can hold their own narrative power and no longer passively accept values centered on Tokyo. Kageyama pointed out that 80% of Japanese publishers are concentrated in Tokyo; when a typhoon strikes, for example, mass media pay far more attention to the disaster situation in Tokyo, while information about local areas is pitifully scarce. "In mainstream media, it is all about how Tokyo views local areas, messages centered on Tokyo's values. But local values must be decided by the local areas themselves. The value of local publications lies in local areas defining their own value."