Picture released by Japan's printing giant Toppan Printing on March 13, 2013 shows the company's printed book next to a needle tip. Photo: AFP / Toppan Printing
The 22-page micro-book, entitled "Shiki no Kusabana" (flowers of seasons), contains names and monochrome
illustrations of Japanese flowers such as the cherry and the plum, it said, adding the 0.75 millimetre (0.03 inch) pages were impossible to read with the naked eye.
Toppan Printing said letters just 0.01 mm wide were created using the same technology as money printers use to prevent forgery. It has been making micro books since 1964.
Toppan said it would be applying to Guinness World Records to claim the title of world's smallest book, currently held by a 0.9 mm volume published in Russia.
The book is on display at Toppan's Printing Museum in Tokyo, and is on sale, together with a magnifying glass and a larger copy, for 29,400 yen ($307).