Anime News Network has reported, in an article drawn from the Japan Economic Newswire, that the major Japanese manga publishers are planning to institute a manga publishing program specifically for rental beginning in 2004.  The goal is to stem the loss of profits from the resale of manga in second-hand shops and the renting of manga bought from such shops, which the publishers blame for a decline in manga revenue (to about 18% of publishing revenue) in recent years.  The publishers, which include Kodansha and Shogakukan, the two largest in Japan, plan to lobby for new regulations to prohibit the rental of non-rental manga.  They would then produce special rental copies and share in the revenues from each rental with the rental store, similar to the way videos are rented in the States.