Corona sales down 90%… Editor-in-Chief of Globe-Trotter: “Jojo” and “Sengoku” hit one after another… Planning plan at rock bottom.

Manga “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure,” the Warring States Period, Suginami Ward, and Showa Retro. ……

These are the themes that “Globe-Trotter,” an overseas travel guidebook first published in September 1979 and loved for many years, has been covering in its series for the past several years. The “Globe-Trotter,” which mainly targets individual travelers overseas, is now offering manga, history, and domestic guidebooks?　Many of you may have wondered that. Behind this was a unique planning ability that did not stop thinking even when the company hit rock bottom. Below is the story of the struggles of “Globe-Trotter,” as revealed by editor-in-chief Akoyo Yura, based on her overseas experience since her student days.

My brother, who was two years older than me and was very good at drawing, influenced my love of art from childhood. I was especially fascinated by Western paintings. Someday I would like to take the time to appreciate the real thing!　That was the beginning of my interest in foreign countries. After entering university (Waseda University), I chose Italy as my first overseas travel destination. Rome and Florence ……. I spent about two weeks touring the cities on the main road and fully enjoyed Western art. I got hooked on the fun of traveling and had valuable experiences visiting various countries.

In New York, I went on stage and played an instrument in a live performance of “Blue Man Group” with audience participation on Broadway. On my graduation trip to Schönbrunn Palace, a World Heritage site in Vienna, I spoke to a Japanese man of the same age walking in front of me, and he turned out to be a classmate from the same department (Faculty of Letters I) at the same university. I had not seen him on campus for four years, but I never expected to run into him in a distant foreign country. …… We became good friends because of that encounter, and we still keep in touch with each other as a family.”

After graduating from Waseda University in March 2000, Mr. Yura joined Diamond Big Publishing, the publisher of “Globe-Trotter” at the time, and after two years in sales, he was assigned to the editorial department of his choice in his third year with the company.

Although there are local collaborators, most of the interviews begin with the editorial staff leaving Japan. This is because we want to deliver information only from a traveler’s perspective, such as problems at airports and on airplanes. I cannot provide direction without knowing the travel process, so I also find time to visit various places.

I try to incorporate into the magazine any problems I experience during my coverage and introduce countermeasures. For example, if a woman traveling alone is persistently asked by a local man to join him, she should firmly refuse, saying, “I have other plans,” or beware of the many hawkers of misangas in Italy. In many cases, this information, which is presented outside of the column, is read before the main text.

Crisis of Survival

In March 2010, Yura launched “aruco,” a guidebook for adventurous women in their 20s and 30s that is packed with local and in-depth information. While “Globe-Trotter” is mainly aimed at readers in their 40s and 50s, Yura has cultivated a younger demographic.

However, his life as an editor took a sudden turn for the worse.

The new type of coronavirus began to spread around 2008,” he said. It became extremely difficult for stayhomes to travel abroad. Sales dropped 90% at once. The survival of Globe-Trotter was in jeopardy. We were at rock bottom.

When “Globe-Trotter” was transferred from Diamond Big Inc. to the Gakken Group in December 2008, he was asked to propose a plan to break through the current situation.

When “Globe-Trotter” was transferred from Diamond Big-sha to the Gakken Group in December 2008, we were asked to come up with a plan to break through the current situation. It’s the same with traveling abroad. Trouble is bound to occur in a foreign country, but nothing will change if you panic. To make your trip an enjoyable memory, it is important to keep challenging yourself. I call this the ‘traveler’s mindset.

Fortunately, the first domestic edition of the “Globe-Trotter” series, “Tokyo,” which was released in time for the Tokyo Olympics scheduled to be held in July 2008 (postponed to the following year due to the COVID-19 crisis), sold 100,000 copies. Mu: How to Walk in Another World,” a collaboration with the mystery magazine Mu, became a hit, selling over 140,000 copies.

The success of these two books has changed my way of thinking. If we can’t go abroad, let’s guide people in Japan. I decided to collaborate with content that goes well with travel and make it interesting reading even if you don’t go on a trip. In the former case, we not only cover prefectures popular for sightseeing such as Kyoto and Hokkaido, but also narrowly defined areas such as Suginami Ward and Yamaguchi City. Based on the idea that walking is also a type of travel, the content is designed to be enjoyable even for residents. Thanks to this, about 70% of our readers for our domestic series are locals.”

Real and fictitious places are ……”

The collaborative project that Mr. Yura was in charge of was “Chikyu no Arukikata JOJO: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure,” published in July ’22. It was the first in the series to reach No. 1 in the overall ranking of all books on Amazon. The unusual tag-team with a popular manga drew a lot of attention.

I have been reading “Jojo” in “Weekly Shonen Jump” in real time since its serialization began in 1987. In “Jojo,” there are many countries that people who love to travel, such as Egypt and Mexico. I wondered if it would be possible to introduce the history and customs of these countries by interweaving them with the stories in “JoJo.

However, the actual editing process was difficult. Jojo” contains a mixture of real and fictional places. I introduced the fictional places by clearly stating that they do not exist at this time, and by adding detailed explanations of the stories and paying close attention to the details. The “Globe-Trotter” guidebook is largely a practical book, but in the collaboration with “Jojo,” we tried to make it an enjoyable read, which may have won the hearts of readers.

After that, “Chikyu no Arukikata” continued to produce a succession of projects that made readers want to pick it up, such as “Sengoku,” which introduced places associated with warlords and old battlefields, and “Showa Retro,” which featured popular Showa gourmet restaurants and places with nostalgic townscapes. Sales recovered to 80% of the pre-Corona level. Yura, who took over as editor-in-chief in October 2011, talks about his ambitions for the future.

I want to continue to publish travel books that resonate with the younger generation. Traveling the globe is fun!　I want many people to experience that kind of real-life experience.

A new service from “Globe-Trotter” will be launched in March. A new service from “Globe-Trotter” was launched in March, a membership-based participatory community by travelers for travelers.

The new service is an online community for travelers to exchange information and connect with other travelers.

URL: https: //community. arukikata .co.jp/