Japan Bookstore Hotel

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I am very moved to have two second-hand book streets in Japan. One is the used book street in Waseda, which is known as the "used book market", and the other is Shenbao Town, which is known as the "used book maze". I have been to Japan many times in the past three years, but these two streets have never appeared in my travel plan. Until one day, I leafed through the magazine and was attracted by it. After all, such a place may disappear one day, so I decided to have a look.

Shenbao Town is just north of the Forbidden City. There are four landmark projects in this place: second-hand bookstore, coffee shop, musical instrument shop and curry rice. There are many signs of second-hand bookstores in Shenbao Town. If you are a lover of Japanese literature like me, then Jimbo Town must be the place where you can come. There are not only old books here, but also many unknown surprises on the road.

On the musical instrument street out of the subway station, some long-standing acoustics have been singing from symphony to red velvet, and students carrying cellos and guitars walk side by side. A pickup truck pulled a glaring teenager, who was in a hurry to prepare for the evening activities. Occasionally, when he accidentally meets passers-by, he will bow 90 degrees to apologize.

This is the university town area in Tokyo. Japanese universities and Meiji University have gathered a large number of outstanding young people in contemporary Japan, and Shenbao Town, like Liulichang in Beijing and Charing Cross Street in London, is a secret garden loved by countless book lovers and scholars.

There is a bookstore in Shenbao Town with a long history, mainly in the Meiji era. At that time, there were many palaces of dignitaries nearby, so there were a lot of sources of abandoned old books. Later, with the prosperity of the school, the traffic of these bookstores was opened. Some people buy it, others sell it. After a while, more and more students supported them. It also makes the bookstore industry a hereditary industry in Japan.

If the word "full of sweat and cattle" is too small in front of Shenbao Town, since 1880, no one knows how many old books have been housed in this area and how many dusty orphans have been treasured by favorite literati. A Japanese friend who loves second-hand books told me: Maybe the second-hand books you casually read in Shenbao Town may be an orphan for more than 100 years.

Compared with the new bookstores that keep opening, the old bookstores are the darling of this group of old customers. No one knows which generation the owners of these stores are now. Most of them run the shops alone or look after them with their sons. They are always indifferent to strangers and tourists coming and going, but they will be happy with people who are familiar with faces. For example, my friend and these second-hand booksellers are almost friends. It is the two kinds of faces on this street that make Shenbao Town still maintain its most unique charm for a hundred years ~

Most old bookstores have a very beautiful name. Even China tourists who don't know Japanese can see from the Chinese characters that they are also quite charming: Nana Ogawa, Bird Sea, Goat Hall, catalpa Study Room, Koga, Yamaguchi Group, Wenhua Hall, Iijima and so on. It seems that each name corresponds to an unknown historical story.

I stood at the entrance of Guo Jing Avenue, amazed at the low-key facade of the bookstore and a narrow door, which easily separated the two worlds. But once you step into it, those bumpy books seem to pour down at any time. Even if I don't know what to buy, I can be brought in by this atmosphere. ...