More than 600 local governments in Japan have e-libraries

A Japanese group for companies that make and sell e-books^*1 has counted the e-libraries in Japan. The group is called the Electronic Publishing Production and Distribution Council. It gave the new numbers on July 13, 2026.

An e-library^*2 is a service from a public library. People can borrow e-books on the internet. They do not need to go to the library building.

On July 1, 2026, 613 local governments^*3 in Japan had an e-library. That is one more than on April 1, 2026. There were 493 e-libraries, also one more than before.

The number has grown very fast. On January 1, 2020, only 90 local governments had an e-library. On January 1, 2023, the number was 461. Now it is 613.

Japan has 1,788 local governments, so 34.3 percent^*4 of them have an e-library. Japan has 47 prefectures^*5, and 34 of them have one. That is 72.3 percent. Nineteen of the 20 largest cities have one (95.0 percent). Only the city of Okayama does not have one. Tokyo, the capital of Japan, has 23 special wards^*6. Twenty-one of them have an e-library (91.3 percent). Suginami and Nakano, two wards in Tokyo, do not have one. Among other cities, 380 of 772 have one (49.2 percent). Among towns, 111 of 743 have one (14.9 percent). Among villages, 48 of 183 have one (26.2 percent).

Japan had about 126 million people in 2020. About 89 million of them, or 70.5 percent, live in a place with an e-library. Japan has 3,310 public libraries, and 1,835 of them, or 55.4 percent, offer an e-library. Some local governments have no library building at all. There are 393 of them, and 44 of them (11.2 percent) have an e-library.

The group also looked at each prefecture. Nagano Prefecture is at the top. All 78 of its local governments have an e-library, so its rate is 100 percent. Fukuoka Prefecture is next with 42 of 61 (68.9 percent). Tokyo follows with 42 of 63 (66.7 percent). Akita Prefecture is at the bottom. Only one of its 26 local governments has an e-library. That is 3.8 percent.

1. *1 e-books: books that you read on a computer, a phone, or a tablet
2. *2 e-library: a library service that lends e-books on the internet
3. *3 local governments: the offices that run a city, town, village, or larger area
4. *4 percent: a number out of 100; 50 percent means half
5. *5 prefectures: the 47 large areas that Japan is divided into, like states
6. *6 special wards: the 23 parts of central Tokyo; each one has its own local government