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The Japanese describe themselves as a “nation of readers”. This is not incorrect if you look at the history of reading in Japan, which dates back to the 5th century, when the Chinese writing system arrived in this country. The Japanese gradually adapted it to their own language. The creation of the kana syllabic alphabet enabled the flourishing of literature, and thus the copying activities, especially at the Japanese imperial court. The monks in the temples were also engaged in copying Buddhist texts, but they were the first to accept printing with wooden blocks, which arrived from China. Over time, the printing of books of various genres began. Itinerant merchants and numerous bookstores where books were also rented, tried to satisfy the hunger for reading of all social classes. The book market grew more and more, and the real reading revolution came with the period of intensive modernization of the country in the second half of the 19th century, when Japan made all its efforts to reach and overtake Western models. Publishing, as well as the developed library activity of modern society, rest on such foundations. The reading culture of today’s Japan is reflected in the number of published books, but also in the steady growth of the number of libraries, both public and special, as well as libraries within the educational system in Japan. Today, all segments that form that culture, such as education, printing, publishing and library activities, etc., adapt to the new era defined by globalization and digitalization progress. Although the impressive growth of the figures, which illustrate the size of the book and magazine market, has stopped in recent years, they still prove the fact that the Japanese are truly the “nation of readers”. Libraries also manage to keep up with new trends, so digital libraries appear on the Internet, while all others have available digital catalogs and reading materials. If we look back at the centuries-old attachment of the Japanese to books and reading, and if we look at the technologies we are surrounded by, it is clear to us that librarians are constantly faced with new challenges. Just as the copyist at the Japanese court supplied court ladies with the latest readings, the traveling merchant did his best to make the book reach the most remote mountain villages, the modern librarian also does his best to overcome all obstacles and meet the expectations of increasingly demanding library users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Problem-solving support services in Japan's public libraries offer users' problem-solving support by providing information in business, health and medical, legal, and administrative support. Though such services are quite welldeveloped in Japan's public libraries, there is little research on the information needs of local citizens who make use of these services. Objective. This study investigated the information seeking processes of two groups of library users--aspiring entrepreneurs and cancer patients--who used public libraries to attain their problem-solving goals. This study used an information behavioral grammar model as the theoretical framework. Method. Existing interview data of aspiring entrepreneurs and cancer patients were analyzed using the model, applying a constant-comparative method adopted from the grounded theory approach in order to elicit how problem-solving goal (distal goal) and information needs (proximal sub-goals) are modified in information seeking process. Results. The information behavioral grammar model was found to be useful for characterizing and explaining the change in the distal goal and the information needs for problem solving, together with the emotions of the actor that result in the change. Entrepreneurs and cancer patients use various external services before and after using the public library's problem-solving support service. Practical implications. It is desirable for public libraries to collaborate with external specialized organizations and professionals in offering user-training on library use, Web search, and specialized data base retrieval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]