Japan Catches Up

Far & away the Japanese best-seller last week was Field Marshal MacArthur, a laudatory 64-page pamphlet biography by Ippo Yamazaki, well-known Japanese novelist. In six months it has sold 850,000 copies, is expected to top a million as soon as the publishers get paper for another printing. Other top titles on the Japan Publishers Association's current list of bestsellers:

Twenty Years of Storm, a review of Japanese militaristic activities from the Manchurian Incident to the surrender.

Efforts Toward Peace, an account of Prince Konoye's attempts to prevent the Pearl Harbor attack, based on Konoye's diary.

Bokuto Kiden, a novel of prewar Tokyo night life and prostitutes.

What Is the United States?, by Andre Siegfried.

The Destiny of China, by Chiang Kaishek.

The Nation and Revolution, by Lenin.

The Communist Manifesto.

Publishers expect to cash in heavily on translations of popular U.S. titles as soon as they get republication rights and the necessary paper. At least one U.S. war book--Richard Tregaskis' Guadalcanal Diary--is already on the stands and selling well.

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