Sunmark Publishing Rights Highlights
and NEWS Mail--August 2016 Issue

The third Monday of July is a national holiday, Marine Day. The law defines Marine Day as a holiday celebrated in the hope of prosperity for the maritime nation of Japan, as well as a day of thanks for the blessings of the sea. We also have a newly established national holiday called Mountain Day, which is August 11th. This is a day to be thankful for the blessings of the mountains. Since both holidays occur during the summer, we have good reason to enjoy our summer at the beach and in the mountains.

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If you have any questions or inquiries about this NEWS Mail, please contact Ms. Shino Kobayashi, Rights Manager(rights@sunmark.co.jp).

Topic of the Month

How Even the Stiffest People Can Do the Splits With Ease has reached 250,000 copies!

We are proud to introduce another book with high potential to be the next big bestseller in the Japanese market. How Even the Stiffest People Can Do the Splits With Ease has now reached 250,000 copies since its release on April 25th, and its sales figures are still going strong. This book focuses on a very specific topic, which is how to do the splits. It talks only about splits and nothing else, so one tends to imagine the market to be very small and the target readers to be a small group, but it is not! The book is read by wide range of readers from office workers to housewives, and now it is ranked on multiple bestseller lists, and it is being strongly pushed by several national bookstore chains.

Hot Titles

Even the Stiffest People Can Do the Splits

by Eiko

ISBN978-4-7631-3542-1 C0036

184 pages / April 2016 / 1,300 yen (w/o tax)

A wonderful 4-week stretch program from the “queen of the splits”

Description

Since childhood, many people have wished they could be more flexible. Doing the splits is seen as the epitome of flexibility, and we tend to feel jealous when we watch someone easily and gracefully do them. This book is for those with a stiff body who dream of doing the splits. As far as I know, no other books have been written specifically about doing the splits.
 
The author, Eiko, is a yoga instructor who continues to develop different methods for making the body more flexible. She has countless students in their 60’s and 70’s who are able to do the splits effortlessly, and her splits video released in 2015 has gotten more than 2,500,000 views! For these reasons, everybody now calls her the “queen of the splits.” In fact, she is featured on the cover of this book. For this book, Eiko refined existing methods to put together a “4-week splits program.” This is her national debut as an author!
 
Start by doing two of the basic stretches every day. Then, add one new stretch to that routine every following week so that you will be doing a different set of three stretches every day. Continue this routine for no more than 5 minutes a day, and you’ll be doing perfect splits in just 4 weeks! Be aware that it may take a little longer for some people.
 
This book also includes a short story called “People Who Can’t Do the Splits Are Worthless”. The title seems a bit extreme, but it’s actually a moving story that you can enjoy before or after your stretches. You may think a short story isn’t needed in a book about stretching, but please read it. It will give you the motivation you need to get started and successfully finish the 4-week program.

Let this book give you the limber body you’ve always wanted!

From the editor

I wasn’t very limber as a child, so doing the splits was beyond my wildest dreams. I too felt jealous when watching people do them. For this reason, I became very excited when I learned about Eiko’s methods, and I immediately wanted to publish them. These methods really work, and will allow people with stiff bodies to finally get the limberness — and ability to do the splits — that they’ve always wanted!

Author:

Eiko

Eiko, also known as the “queen of the splits,” is a yoga instructor and organizer of shake-yoga from Osaka. She became a yoga instructor after working as an aerobics instructor for 10 years. Her very own shake-yoga gained a lot of attention as a fun and effective method that can be enjoyed even by those suffering from stiffness and lower-back pain. Her yoga techniques have helped a large number of people, and the video she released in 2015 called “Stretching techniques that will help stiff people be able to do the splits” went viral on Twitter and Facebook, reaching 2,500,000 views on YouTube. Even her yoga students who are in their 70’s can do the splits with ease.