Interesting...
however, this:
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/economy...AJ201204170023
will be the key issue.
Mainstream JP publishers have been been coy about providing digital editions. As they played shy, a cottage industry for DIY digitzed books helped by the advent of cheap and fast double-sided scanners has established its self.
Popularity of comics as an additional medium for dissemination of information that would otherwise have been reserved for the printed word has influenced the non-development of the market which elsewhere was fuelled by the pulp fiction market.
The determining factor in the developing ebook market in JP would be in what deals the platform holders can strike up w/ the major publishers. A partnership w/ a killer bestseller would be the one sure way to set a standard.