What's interesting is that a few years ago, far fewer people seemed to be reading; everybody was staring at their phone. Lately (within the last couple of years), however, this seems to be changing, and I see many more people reading actual books [this is helped by the fact that Japanese paperbacks [ζεΊ«] are almost perfectly suited for train reading, being small, thin, light, and flexible].
My guess is that the bloom has passed to some degree, and highly capable phones have become so normal that people are less fascinated by them, and more likely to see the tradeoffs compared to things like books/newspapers/etc. [and indeed, I seem to see more people reading actual broadsheets on trains lately as well]
That doesn't mean people don't look at their phones, of course; many do. But books are back, baby... :]
[This is all merely my personal observation of course; YMMV...]
I see lots of people with paper novels in NYC as well.
If I had to guess, I'd say that a third of the readers* on the subway are using paper.
*People I can positively identify as reading something, as opposed to playing a game - if they're using something like a Kindle, or if I see them looking at a screen swiping up or down at regular intervals.
They do here (Tokyo area).
What's interesting is that a few years ago, far fewer people seemed to be reading; everybody was staring at their phone. Lately (within the last couple of years), however, this seems to be changing, and I see many more people reading actual books [this is helped by the fact that Japanese paperbacks [ζεΊ«] are almost perfectly suited for train reading, being small, thin, light, and flexible].
My guess is that the bloom has passed to some degree, and highly capable phones have become so normal that people are less fascinated by them, and more likely to see the tradeoffs compared to things like books/newspapers/etc. [and indeed, I seem to see more people reading actual broadsheets on trains lately as well]
That doesn't mean people don't look at their phones, of course; many do. But books are back, baby... :]
[This is all merely my personal observation of course; YMMV...]