Tokyo-based publisher Zuiunsha said March 3 that it has received many orders from bookstores for the newly revived book, written by British author Helen Bannerman during a trip to India. It was released in Britain in the late 19th century.

It was first issued in Japan in 1953 by Tokyo-based Iwanami Shoten Publishers under the Japanese title Chibikuro Sambo (Little Black Sambo).

Printing of the book was halted in 1988 after Japanese civic groups protested that the word "sambo" was used as a derogatory term in the United States against black people.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 12, 2005
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