HCM CITY – More than 2,000 book titles will be featured at the Japanese Books Exhibition 2016 at Nguyễn Huệ and Tân Định bookstores in HCM City from May 12 to 19.

The exhibition, organised by the HCM City Book Distribution Corporation (Fahasa) and Kynokuniya Company, introduces Japanese-language books and magazines covering a wide range of topics in literature, cooking, gardening, architecture and handicrafts. Language textbooks are also on display.

Famous Japanese publishers Shogakukan, Kodansha, Bunka-Shuppan and Kadokawa are all taking part in the exhibition.

Book titles are being offered at a 10 per cent discount so that readers of all ages can afford to buy books that interest them, according to Fahasa.

Best-selling comic books such as Doraemon and Sailormoon, together with art books, storybooks and e-books, are especially attractive for younger readers.

A 28-year-old visitor to the exhibition told Việt Nam News that she was able to find several hard-to-find language textbooks at affordable prices.

“I’m pleased that I no longer have to study from photocopied versions downloaded from the internet,” she said.

On the opening day, the exhibition, valued at VNĐ5 billion (US$224,000), attracted a huge crowd, with many purchases, most of them comic and art books, made by teenagers and young adults.

Fahasa and the famous Japanese bookstore Kynokuniya are planning to also set up other book exhibitions in Hà Nội and northern provinces, including at Hưng Yên Province’s Tokyo Việt Nam Medical University, in an effort to promote Việt Nam–Japan relations.  –VNS