Copies of the Japanese translation of "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," are stacked in front of a photograph of Trump Tower at a bookstore in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, on Friday for its debut in Japan. | KYODO

National

Best-selling Donald Trump expose hits bookstores in Japan

Kyodo

The Japanese translation of American journalist Michael Wolff’s incendiary and controversial expose of life in the White House under President Donald Trump hit bookstores Friday.

“Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” caused a controversy in the United States upon its release earlier this year with its tales of dysfunction and chaos in the White House, leading to legal threats by Trump aimed at halting its publication.

On the first floor of Sanseido Bookstore Ltd.’s flagship store in central Tokyo, around 300 copies of the book, published by Hayakawa Publishing Corp., were arranged to resemble the eponymous Trump Tower in New York, with a photograph of the actual building just behind.

The English version has sold more than 1.7 million copies since its release in January.

Toshiki Kamasuka, 43, who lived in the United States as a youngster, said, “I had been waiting in anticipation for the book as I was surprised that he became president and wanted to know the inside story.”

Wolff says he spent 18 months conducting interviews with campaign and administration staff to gather material, including with Trump himself. The president condemned the book as “fake news,” and called Wolff “a mentally deranged author” on Twitter.

Hayakawa reported a print run of 100,000 for the first edition of the Japanese version, which contains an afterword by former NHK journalist Akira Ikegami.

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