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Visits to pirate websites that upload Japanese manga without permission have surged, with about 540 million visits to the top 10 such sites in November, a monthly high. The amount read on these sites was equivalent to about ¥150 billion in lost book sales, another record high.
The figures were compiled by ABJ, an anti-piracy body formed by Japanese publishers, telecom companies and others.
Visits to the top 10 websites for pirated manga hit a record high of about 400 million in December 2021. As several major websites were forced to close, views had shrunk to about 100 million per month early this year. However, there has been a surge since around July.
The surge is being driven by pirate websites that have started domain hopping — meaning they change their domain name several times in a short period — and visitors have quickly started using the websites under their new domain name. This has led the readership of the top 10 sites to swell.
About 1,200 manga pirate sites have been confirmed so far. However, as the operators of these websites are believed to reside overseas, such as in Vietnam, it is difficult to crack down on them.
“Unfortunately, we have not been able to contain the situation,” said an ABJ representative. “If authorities in each country arrest the operators of these massive sites, there should be a deterrent effect. We will continue to try to reach out to the relevant individuals.”
