Esquire Japan To Cease Publication

[Mulboyne]

[floatl][/floatl]The magazine market in Japan remains in crisis. A number of well-known titles ceased publication last year including the monthly Japanese version of Playboy. Now it appears that the Japanese version of Esquire, which began publication in 1987, will also be closing down. Esquire Magazine Japan is a division of a company called Rentrak which apparently no longer has the money to keep the title afloat. Since running the magazine is EMJ's only business, Rentrak may well wind up the division.

[gkanai]

Darwin at work. The Japanese magazine industry needs a LOT of consolidation.

[Mulboyne]

AFP: Esquire Japan to end publication amid recession

Esquire Japan, the Japanese edition of the US lifestyle magazine, has said it will cease publication in May, the latest victim of the economic recession in the nation's publishing industry. Esquire Japan was first published in 1987, but, according to an announcement on its website, has decided to suspend publication due to "circumstances beyond our control." The magazine, which once enjoyed a monthly circulation of 60,000, has suffered a sharp decline in advertising revenue amid the global financial crisis, Kyodo News reported. In Japan, the economic slump has forced a number of long-established magazines to suspend publication after advertising income plunged 11.1 percent over a 12-month period, according to a survey conducted by ad agency Dentsu Inc.

It seems there's a petition to save the magazine here which even has instructions in English.