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Yhn CultureBooks first seen 1 d ago, last 1 h ago, peak #3

Japanese used bookstores boom as bulk buyers purchase books by the ton

Original: Japanese used bookstores see 5x sales surge as books are being bought by the ton

Used bookstores across Japan are reporting a fivefold surge in sales, driven by bulk purchases of books measured in tons. Retailers say some single orders have reached 50 tons, with books shipped to the United States for AI scanning and then destroyed. Many smaller suspicious bulk buys are suspected to end up in similar foreign scan-and-shred facilities, raising concern that rare titles are being lost to the secondhand market.

Why now: AI companies are reportedly buying up massive quantities of physical books to scan for training data, drawing fresh attention to how AI development is affecting the used book market.

JapanUnited StatesJapanese used bookstoresAI training

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