Amazon’s Kindle Is Finally Headed to Japan

At long last, Amazon’s Kindle e-reader is headed for Japan. The retailer this morning lit up a Kindle promotional page on its Japanese store, saying the device is “coming soon.”

And it’s about time. Amazon was rumored to be prepping a Kindle for the Japanese market last year, but that effort was hamstrung by Japanese publishers reluctant to provide content to Amazon, fearing the company would sell it at too much of a discount, potentially undermining both the digital and dead-tree sides of their business.

Evidently Amazon has since disabused them of that notion. The Asahi Shimbun reported in April that Amazon had struck deals with a number of smaller Japanese publishing houses, and was working hard to sign similar agreements with their larger brethren. Presumably, the company has now inked enough deals with key Japanese publishers to move forward with a launch.

(Image courtesy of Flickr/Kodomut)