Kouji Taguchi, the head of Square Enix’s manga division, was recently asked why manga sales in America pretty much suck when compared to sales in Japan. He replied by saying:

“The best sellers in the US were Full Metal Alchemist and Naruto, but these only sold a tenth to a twentieth of what they sold in Japan.

I think the main reasons are as follows:

1. Fewer copies are printed and those that are get sold at a much higher price, from $8.99 to $12.99.

2. Children don’t get as much money, their allowances are just smaller.

3. The other reason is location. If you live in Tokyo there will be 3 bookshops nearby, which you can easily cycle to. In the US there aren’t any, they can only buy on a weekly trip to the mall. Even if anime is highly popular, they just don’t visit the stores to buy manga often.”

It’s interesting that piracy wasn’t brought up.

Think about it, some manga series take up to a year to make their way over to the states. Instead of waiting for U.S. licensing deals and distribution, most hardcore otaku are just reading scanlations on sites like OneManga.com where english translations are uploaded within 24 hours after a chapter is released in Japan.

Why wait and pay when you can have it now for free?

[Via Sankaku Complex]