“I have an illustrated book on cheeses,” says Tomoyo Ozumi, a customer of a new type of bookstore in Japan where anyone can sell books by renting a shelf, rejoicing at her find.
This booming concept gives readers the pleasure of leafing through books again, after the closure of many bookstores in the country. It also offers readers more eclectic choices than those suggested by the algorithms of online bookstores, according to its supporters.
“Here, you find books that make you wonder who could buy them,” jokes Shogo Imamura, 40, who opened one of these stores in the Kanda Jimbocho bookstore district of Tokyo in April.
“Ordinary bookstores sell books considered popular based on sales statistics, and exclude books that do not sell well,” Mr. Imamura, who also writes novels about Japanese samurai, told AFP. feudal.
“We ignore these principles. Or capitalism in other words,” he adds. “I want to rebuild bookstores.”
His store, barely 53 square meters, has 364 shelves, where books – new or second-hand – are sold on subjects as varied as business strategy, manga or martial arts.
Several hundred customers rent shelves there, for which they pay between 4,850 and 9,350 yen (29 to 56 euros) per month. These customers may be individuals, an IT company, a construction company or small publishing houses.
“Each of these shelves is like a real-life version of a social media account, where you express yourself like on Instagram or Facebook,” notes Kashiwa Sato, the store's creative director.
– Cafes and gyms –
Today, Honmaru, his store whose name refers to the heart of a Japanese castle, only exists in Tokyo, but Mr. Imamura hopes to open in other regions, also affected by bookstore closures.
A quarter of Japanese municipalities no longer have bookstores, and more than 600 of them closed in the 18 months through March, according to the Japan Cultural Publishing Industry Foundation.
In 2022, Mr. Imamura visited dozens of bookstores that have managed to survive tough competition from e-commerce giants like Amazon, some by adding cafes or even gyms to their operations.
– Reading advice –
Rokurou Yui, another 42-year-old bookseller of a new genre, points out that his stores in the same district of Tokyo are filled with the “enormous love” of shelf tenants for the books on display.
“It’s as if we heard a voice giving us reading advice,” he told AFP.
Traditional bookstore owners place books on their shelves that they must sell to stay in business, regardless of their personal tastes. “But here, there is no book we have to sell, just books that someone recommends with great passion and love.”
Mr. Yui and his father, Shigeru Kashima, 74, a professor of French literature, opened their first bookstore of this type, “Passage”, in 2022. Then two others, and a fourth which opened its doors in a school of French language in Tokyo in October.
Passage has 362 shelves rented by sellers who help attract customers with their own marketing, often online.
On weekends, the store “sometimes looks like a nightclub crowded with young customers aged 10, 20 or 30”, with trendy music playing in the background, laughs Rokurou Yui.
Customers and bookstore owners come to the bookstore not only to sell and buy books, but also to “discuss books”.
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