Caught napping?

Fans of Japanese comics will be saddened to hear that publisher Asahi Sonorama is to close its doors and be absorbed into its parent, the Asahi Shimbun Company. The publisher of such celebrated titles as Night Parade of Spirits and Monsters and Crusher Joe (no, I hadn't heard of them either, but they're big in Japan) had, it seems, finally caused its parent company to run out of patience. Fair enough too, really, as Sonorama's president Mr. Takashi Iida freely admitted that business had been insolvent for at least 20 years! Indeed, Japanese Writers House suggests that Sonorama had been performing consistently - consistently badly, that is - since its founding in the 1970s and now has liabilities of 1.6 billion yen (just over A$15 million). You'd have to say they've been given every chance to make a go of it. Even so, it seems Sonorama may have continued into the future but for an HR crisis. 'With the aging of its employees over recent years, it became difficult to continue operations,' says Japanese Writers House. If only they hadn't taken all those afternoon naps. Talking of which, it's about time for mine now.