Shinchosha

• 1. Introduction

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  Shinchosha was founded in 1896, as Japan was pressing hard into industrial modernity. Over the decades that followed, the company grew from a book publisher into a broad media house. Its portfolio came to include weekly newspapers, monthly periodicals, automobile magazines, and eventually a film production credit few could have predicted. What draws a traditional literary publisher into cinema? And what forces a company to publicly condemn content it had itself put into print? Those questions trace the two most unusual chapters in Shinchosha's long history.

• 2. A Century of Print

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  Shinchosha's monthly literary magazine has been running since 1904, spanning two world wars and Japan's postwar transformation. A separate weekly publication launched in 1956. The company also ran a manga weekly, which ceased publication in 2010, and ENGINE, an automobile magazine launched in 2000. A weekly called Focus and a monthly called nicola also appeared in the publishing portfolio.

  Haruki Murakami published a series of novels through Shinchosha across four decades. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World appeared in 1985, followed by Uten Enten in 1990 and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle in 1997. After the Quake came out in 2000. 1Q84 was issued across 2009 and 2010. The City and Its Uncertain Walls appeared in 2023.

  Alex Kerr's Lost Japan was published through Shinchosha in 1993. The company also co-sponsored the Japan Fantasy Novel Award, given annually since its founding in 1989. The company's most unusual production credit, however, had nothing to do with any of those titles.

• 3. Story to Screen

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  In 1967, Akiyuki Nosaka published a short story through Shinchosha titled Grave of the Fireflies. The piece sat in print for more than two decades before finding a far wider audience.

  Director Isao Takahata chose the story as the basis for an animated film, with Studio Ghibli handling the animation. Shinchosha stepped into the role of producer, a significant move for a company whose core business had always been print. Bandai Visual, distributing under their Emotion label, and Toho served as co-distributors.

  The film opened in Japanese theaters on the 16th of April, 1988. Shinchosha's decision to produce rather than merely license the story would shape how the film traveled internationally for decades after that premiere.

• 4. Rights and Borders

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  Central Park Media brought the film to North America on the 2nd of June, 1993, releasing it as a subtitled VHS. The company later issued a 2-disc DVD edition. The first disc carried an English dub produced by Skypilot Entertainment alongside the original Japanese audio with English subtitles. The second disc held a retrospective on the author, an interview with the director, and a conversation with critic Roger Ebert. Ebert had expressed his admiration for the film on several occasions and ranked it among the greatest ever made.

  Disney never held North American distribution rights to the film. It is the first Studio Ghibli title for which Disney never had such rights. Disney had previously distributed all Tokuma Shoten-produced Studio Ghibli titles in North America, before GKids took over those rights. Shinchosha, not Tokuma Shoten, had produced the film, placing it entirely outside the Disney arrangement. Disney does hold Asian distribution rights, covering Japan, China, and Taiwan. Madman Entertainment handled distribution in Australia and New Zealand. StudioCanal released a Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on the 1st of July, 2013. Kiki's Delivery Service appeared from the same distributor in the same format on the same date.

• 5. A Magazine Silenced

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  In 2016, an editorial change at Shincho 45 shifted the monthly magazine's direction. Articles from writers associated with right-wing-leaning publications began appearing more frequently. The shift continued through 2017 and into 2018.

  Mio Sugita's article in the August 2018 issue called LGBT couples 'unproductive.' The piece drew widespread condemnation across Japan. Shinchosha responded by suspending publication of Shincho 45 entirely.

  Shinchosha president Takanobu Sato specifically criticized a series of essays in the October 2018 issue. Those essays had been written in defense of Sugita's article. Sato called the series 'expressions full of prejudice that lacked appropriate recognition and deviated from common sense.' While Shincho 45 fell silent, the company's Daily Shincho news site had been publishing online since 2015. Drawing material from the weekly Shukan Shincho, it continued to operate.