One of the world's largest trade shows for the latest electronic book technologies and services opened Wednesday at Tokyo Big Sight.

The 16th e-Book Expo Tokyo kicked off as the future of Japan's digital book market draws attention ahead of the July 19 launch of an e-book service by online shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc. and the planned release in Japan of e-book readers by Amazon.com Inc. of the U.S.

About 150 exhibitors from inside and outside Japan took part in the event running through Friday.

The 19th Tokyo International Book Fair will also be held at the same venue from Thursday to Sunday. Organizers expect the two events to draw 70,000 visitors.