Japan publisher of Ishiguro novels flooded with orders

October 7, 2017

TOKYO- Following Kazuo Ishiguro's winning of the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2017 the previous day, Hayakawa Publishing Corp., which sells translated editions of novels by the Japan-born British author in Japan, was busy Friday dealing with orders from bookstores nationwide.

The Tokyo-based publisher has published eight novels by Ishiguro, printing a cumulative number of 950,000 books. It has decided to print a total of 200,000 additional copies.

Hayakawa Publishing also plans to increase the number of first prints of the paperback edition of "The Buried Giant," Ishiguro's latest novel, to be released in the country on Oct. 19. The company is considering moving forward the release date.

"I'm surprised and very happy at the same time," said Hiroshi Hayakawa, president of the publisher. He said he did not expect Ishiguro to win the award this year, although he thought the author could be awarded in three years.

Hayakawa revealed his close relationship with Ishiguro. The British author attended the wedding ceremony of Hayakawa's eldest son, the president said.

"As you can see in his beautiful writing, he is a gentleman who keeps faith," Hayakawa said.

Ishiguro's novels started appearing high in the book sales ranking of online shopping website Amazon immediately after the announcement of Ishiguro winning the award. The website is updated every hour.

As of noon on Friday, the top seven places in the ranking were held by works of Ishiguro, with "The Remains of the Day" in top place. Jiji Press