TOKYO, Sept. 25 -- A book that exists in perhaps a dozen known copies documents the ceremonial textile practices of Edo-period merchant houses in Osaka. It was compiled around 1810 and hand-illustrated. In August 2026, the owner of a Tokyo used-book platform received a bulk order that included it - along with several hundred other titles - from an account that had placed similar orders with sixteen other stores in the same week. The shipment was consolidated and sent to a warehouse in Okayama Prefecture. What happened to the book after that is unknown.

Japan's used-book market has reported an anomalous surge in bulk buying since roughly August 2026, with individual sellers describing days when sales ran close to five times their normal v...