Amazon changed the way people read books when they first introduced the Digital eReader device Kindle. But even though it successfully targeted readers in the U.S, its popularity in Japan was slightly less than desirable. Perhaps it wasn't as widely advertised by Amazon Japan, despite it being a portable reader that can hold 4GB worth of digital books.

Regardless, reading manga on the Kindle is a different story. Though every page consists of beautifully digitized images, the structure of the comics is not as well-adapted to the hardware. As a solution to this issue, the company’s Japanese arm has recently launched a new product of the Kindle series — the Manga Model, created for voracious readers of Japanese comics.

The Manga Model maintains the natural paperwhite design and WiFi accessibility, with a crazy storage of 32-gigabytes, 8 times more than the standard model. According to Amazon, it will allow readers to download around 700 collected manga volumes, meaning the whole series of Naruto, Asari-chan, and Kochikame can all be run on this model. Amazon has also boosted the Kindle's performance, with a 33 percent increase on page-turning speed.

The Kindle Manga Model is available to pre-order for 16,280 yen (156.80 USD), or 12,280 yen (118.30 USD) for Amazon Prime members. So far, Amazon doesn’t have a big pool of manga selections yet, but the company will start adding more as demands for their new Manga Model increases.


By - grape Japan editorial staff.