Train advertisement in Tokyo

I had one personal economic indicator I watched whenever I was in Japan.     Advertisement pieces hanging inside commuter trains.          Ever punctual commuter trains are always full of people and for a long time advertisement posters were displayed, changed weekly and read by millions daily.        I was surprised to see some vacant spots when the recession hit Japan sometime ago and thought it indeed reflected the state of economy.       Now, however, the vacant spots are very visible  and riders do not seem to be paying much attention.           With almost full employment there is certainly no recession in Japan and this clearly reflects the population moving away from the  printed information.         Indeed the other day out of 10 sitting commuters, 9 were glued to their smartphone reading mails, news, listening to music or watching movie.     The printing business and technology on which we built our life still go on and are playing an important role in the society but the growth we experienced year after year during our days are now gone.        I am somewhat sad to see this but at the same time welcome the new digital technology I am now so used to having around.                   ( Including this  electronic means of communication!)