Asahi press publisher seems to be hardly affected by the economic crisis. One magazine "The Speeches of Barack Obama" published by the publisher hit the bestsellers list a few months ago. The magazine was originally published for English learners, so it is provided in English and Japanese and is accompanied with a CD-ROM. It's like textbook, and there's nothing attractive about it. Nobody expected it would hit the bestsellers list.According to the TV news, most of people who bought the magazine felt something attractive when they saw Barack Obama delivering a speech on the news, and then they didn't understand English and understood the whole content of the speeches after they read the magazine in Japanese. Moreover, the more they understood the speeches, the more they were attracted by the speeches.
I understand how they feel. Our prime minister often makes a slip of the tongue and changes his policies, and then his speeches are sometimes inconsistent, so a large number of Japanese people have been disappointed by him. With the serious economic downturn, they/we need something which gives them hope. "Yes, we can" or "change" might encourage them to face the difficulties and try to overcome the serious situation.
When I saw Mr. Nakagawa making a blunder at G7, I felt embarrassed to be a Japanese person. I think we also have to change now.
