A two-page spread advertisement by Takarajimasha (publisher) appeared in the morning editions of three national newspapers on May 11.

The content is based on photos of children's military training during the war.

"No vaccine. No drugs. We're supposed to fight with bamboo bullets? Politics will kill us."

With this statement, the publisher criticized the government's measures against the new coronavirus.

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At this time, I have not researched or subscribed to any of their publications, so I cannot comment on them.

So, I will now start researching and subscribing.

I do not watch online news or social networking sites. I eliminate all comments that are not accompanied by data and evidence.

I think with my own mind, calculate with my own computer, and speak only with my own words.

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Incidentally,

The price of a "two-page spread" corporate ad is

Asahi Shimbun: \79,710,000

Yomiuri Shimbun: \95,820,000

Mainichi Shimbun: \51,840,000

Total: \227,370,000

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For example, let's hypothesize that this ad is a strategy to make a book about Corona a best seller.

Considering authors, publishers, distributors, bookstores (plus printing companies and shipping companies) as stakeholders.

The distribution is apparently author (10%):publisher (60%):distributor (10%):bookstore (20%).

So, if a book of Corona-related books costs 800 yen, the publisher's profit is 480 yen.

So, in an attempt to recoup this advertising cost,

227.37 million yen ÷ 480 yen = 473,688 books

Hmm, even if it doesn't reach the million-seller mark (one million books), it will still be enough to pay for itself.

"Now, will this investment pay off?"

I continue to observe with great interest.