Haruki Murakami's new book on sale
Kinokuniya buys out 90% of the book
Toru Nishine, store manager answers questions from the press during the launch of Haruki Murakami's new book ''Novelist as a Vocation'' at Kinokuniya bookshop in Shinjuku on September 10, 2015, Tokyo, Japan. According to the Asahi Shimbun, the bookshop chain acquired 90,000 copies of the 100,000-copy first print run to sell directly via its 66 stores throughout the country, and distribute to other shops around Japan through wholesalers. One of the major Japanese bookshop chains, Kinokuniya is taking a stand against the increasing dominance of big online retailers such as Amazon by restricting their access to the first print run of a new book release. Published by Switch, and already number five on Amazon.co.jp's bestseller charts, ''Novelist As a Vocation'' collects essays Murakami wrote for the literary magazine Monkey about life as a writer, with an extra 150 pages of new content. (Photo by Rodrigo Reyes Marin/AFLO)