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The story
Masaki Aiba, appearing at Koikeya’s new product strategy and commercial reveal event, revealed his personal quirk that he can only read novels and manga in paper form — and co-star Yumia Fujisaki agreed, saying “I know exactly what you mean.” Sparked by this remark reported by Daily Sports on September 20, 2026, the 5ch “Geinou/Sports News+” board launched into its usual debate over whether paper or e-books are easier to read. Comments ranged from “manga’s fine digitally but novels are hard to get through without paper” to “digital zoom is a lifesaver now that my eyes are going,” showing this goes well beyond simple preference.
Masaki Aiba: “I can’t read novels or manga unless they’re on paper” — Surprising quirk earns Yumia Fujisaki’s “I get it” / Daily Sports
2026.09.20
On the 20th, talent Masaki Aiba (43) appeared alongside actor Yumia Fujisaki (18) at a press event in Tokyo for Koikeya’s new product strategy and new commercial.
Source: daily.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
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If you just want to read, a net cafe or coffee shop works fine.
With e-books it takes way longer to actually get started reading.
it doesn't take up space.
That's about it, honestly…
I used to read novels on my Kindle, but the feeling after finishing was completely different from reading a paperback, so I ended up going back to paper books entirely.
Personally I wonder if it's the visual difference between reflected light and light shining straight through a screen…
you barely hear that anymore.
But for something like Titanic, where the sense of presence really matters, I do think "yeah, it's gotta be the theater."
That immersive feeling is just on a totally different level.
things like two-page spreads or just not needing storage space.
But for plain text, paper wins.
started offering e-book loans online, but
it's basically all just Aozora Bunko (a free public-domain text archive), and the selection
is way too weak.
Forget the big screen — there's nothing you can do about the sound at home.
Once you factor in the physical vibration, even a dedicated home theater room hits its limits.
A movie theater lets you actually feel the film.
on the bus or train during my commute there's never enough light, so I ended up only reading on my phone.
My bookshelf has been frozen in the same lineup for years now — like the owner died or something.
But digital lets you zoom in, right?
Being able to carry your whole library anywhere with ease is a huge draw.
Something like a CD, though, was always just data burned onto a disc, so I don't feel the same way about that.
one day I forgot to bring my book and was dying to keep reading on the train, so I bought an e-book for the first time.
I haven't bought a physical book since.
Digital doesn't take up space, you can highlight passages,
and being able to search a word to find the part you want to reread again is amazing.
once my eyesight started going I switched to team tablet, since you can zoom in and adjust the brightness.
Beats struggling through hard-to-read text or just giving up on reading altogether.
I figure it's probably setting me up for vision problems later in life.
The sense of satisfaction when I finish is bigger too.
I don't feel like buying paper books online,
so now it's basically just manga in e-book form for me.
I guess actually moving your hands is what makes procedural knowledge really sink in.
Writing characters by hand on paper itself uses a huge amount of brainpower.
If everything gets turned digital, today's kids might end up developing dementia by the time they're in their 40s.
I think what actually matters there is writing in a notebook, more than the paper book itself.
For people editing color versions or translated editions, digital must make the work way easier.
Background and key points of this discussion
The paper-versus-digital reading debate is a recurring topic on 5ch, not unique to this thread, and it reflects a real structural gap in Japan’s e-book market: digital comics have overtaken paper in sales, while e-book adoption for text-heavy works like novels has lagged. In the thread, this split showed up clearly — commenters were far more willing to accept digital for panel-by-panel manga than for text-driven novels. The other recurring theme wasn’t really generational but practical: comments about digital zoom being a lifesaver for aging eyes sat alongside comments that only paper leaves a lasting memory, suggesting the divide owes more to physical circumstances and reading context (commute lighting, available shelf space) than to simple old-versus-new taste. The claim that Norwegian schools rolled back tablet-based education also came up — this refers to an actual 2020s education policy shift that is worth noting, since Norway did partially reintroduce handwriting and paper materials, though that context isn’t fully captured within the thread itself.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Commercial] Masaki Aiba: “I can’t read novels or manga unless they’re on paper” — Surprising quirk earns Yumia Fujisaki’s “I get it” / Koikeya.”
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