Berliner Boersenzeitung - Shelf-sharing seeks to save bookstores in Japan

EUR -
AED 3.99407
AFN 72.832181
ALL 98.248532
AMD 420.38944
ANG 1.957683
AOA 991.731959
ARS 1076.823056
AUD 1.656914
AWG 1.957366
AZN 1.847265
BAM 1.954785
BBD 2.193251
BDT 129.803792
BGN 1.955571
BHD 0.409894
BIF 3155.832282
BMD 1.087425
BND 1.435841
BOB 7.506068
BRL 6.297281
BSD 1.086231
BTN 91.253455
BWP 14.522459
BYN 3.554838
BYR 21313.536737
BZD 2.189553
CAD 1.515441
CDF 3139.938841
CHF 0.939645
CLF 0.03789
CLP 1045.493928
CNY 7.746383
CNH 7.741702
COP 4808.377385
CRC 556.610974
CUC 1.087425
CUP 28.816772
CVE 110.208786
CZK 25.320728
DJF 193.428671
DKK 7.459787
DOP 65.416032
DZD 144.728985
EGP 53.221966
ERN 16.31138
ETB 133.422079
FJD 2.447576
FKP 0.832064
GBP 0.843161
GEL 2.984956
GGP 0.832064
GHS 17.630008
GIP 0.832064
GMD 77.20735
GNF 9368.135504
GTQ 8.392796
GYD 227.154137
HKD 8.455765
HNL 27.381404
HRK 7.491306
HTG 142.934465
HUF 408.398354
IDR 17104.113231
ILS 4.079804
IMP 0.832064
INR 91.441651
IQD 1422.967653
IRR 45772.448404
ISK 148.912259
JEP 0.832064
JMD 171.848396
JOD 0.771204
JPY 165.887281
KES 140.125207
KGS 93.304458
KHR 4413.667571
KMF 493.247938
KPW 978.682564
KRW 1500.027451
KWD 0.333437
KYD 0.905238
KZT 530.359483
LAK 23829.845259
LBP 97273.142701
LKR 318.217689
LRD 208.561702
LSL 19.176954
LTL 3.210885
LVL 0.657773
LYD 5.235257
MAD 10.688148
MDL 19.443814
MGA 5005.400896
MKD 61.583022
MMK 3531.915098
MNT 3695.071348
MOP 8.696464
MRU 42.950697
MUR 49.869383
MVR 16.691679
MWK 1883.521963
MXN 21.801682
MYR 4.766207
MZN 69.485866
NAD 19.177218
NGN 1785.943806
NIO 39.969246
NOK 11.974037
NPR 146.002173
NZD 1.821008
OMR 0.418646
PAB 1.086331
PEN 4.090514
PGK 4.35174
PHP 63.540502
PKR 301.841266
PLN 4.354202
PYG 8587.50137
QAR 3.960516
RON 4.975401
RSD 117.049389
RUB 105.888023
RWF 1479.031998
SAR 4.084063
SBD 9.04339
SCR 14.824754
SDG 654.088499
SEK 11.592427
SGD 1.439436
SHP 0.832064
SLE 24.630209
SLL 22802.762267
SOS 620.769097
SRD 37.371565
STD 22507.509112
SVC 9.505152
SYP 2732.18909
SZL 19.186037
THB 36.844105
TJS 11.568646
TMT 3.816863
TND 3.357418
TOP 2.54686
TRY 37.315762
TTD 7.37124
TWD 34.744318
TZS 2941.485633
UAH 44.769753
UGX 3976.971491
USD 1.087425
UYU 44.757171
UZS 13882.791224
VEF 3939255.43483
VES 46.385763
VND 27549.921083
VUV 129.101354
WST 3.046079
XAF 655.616565
XAG 0.032237
XAU 0.0004
XCD 2.938822
XDR 0.816476
XOF 655.613552
XPF 119.331742
YER 272.209715
ZAR 19.165977
ZMK 9788.13458
ZMW 29.083764
ZWL 350.150517
  • CMSD

    -0.1700

    24.66

    -0.69%

  • CMSC

    -0.0400

    24.55

    -0.16%

  • NGG

    -1.4800

    63.59

    -2.33%

  • BCC

    -1.3400

    133.03

    -1.01%

  • SCS

    -0.2000

    12.03

    -1.66%

  • GSK

    -0.2500

    36.76

    -0.68%

  • AZN

    -1.6800

    71.15

    -2.36%

  • RIO

    -1.0100

    64.89

    -1.56%

  • RELX

    -0.6900

    46.22

    -1.49%

  • RBGPF

    59.6000

    59.6

    +100%

  • RYCEF

    0.0800

    6.94

    +1.15%

  • JRI

    0.0300

    13.08

    +0.23%

  • BCE

    0.0200

    32.26

    +0.06%

  • VOD

    -0.1200

    9.27

    -1.29%

  • BTI

    0.6200

    34.98

    +1.77%

  • BP

    0.3400

    29.36

    +1.16%

Shelf-sharing seeks to save bookstores in Japan
Shelf-sharing seeks to save bookstores in Japan / Photo: Kazuhiro NOGI - AFP

Shelf-sharing seeks to save bookstores in Japan

"I'm holding an illustrated book of cheeses," says a delighted Tomoyo Ozumi, a customer at a growing kind of bookshop in Japan where anyone wanting to sell their tomes can rent a shelf.

Text size:

The concept brings back the joy of browsing real books to communities where many bookstores have shut, and gives readers more eclectic choices than those suggested by algorithms on online sellers, its proponents say.

"Here, you find books which make you wonder who on earth would buy them," laughs Shogo Imamura, 40, who opened one such store in Tokyo's bookstore district of Kanda Jimbocho in April.

"Regular bookstores sell books that are popular based on sales statistics while excluding books that don't sell well," Imamura, who also writes novels about warring samurai in Japan's feudal era, told AFP.

"We ignore such principles. Or capitalism in other words," he said. "I want to reconstruct bookstores."

His shop, measuring just 53 square metres (570 square feet), houses 364 shelves, selling books -- some new, some used -- on everything from business strategy and manga comics to martial arts.

The hundreds of different shelf renters, who pay 4,850-9,350 yen ($32-$61) per month, vary from individuals to an IT company to a construction firm to small publishers.

"Each one of these shelves is like a real version of a social media account, where you express yourself like in Instagram or Facebook," said Kashiwa Sato, 59, the store's creative director.

- Cafes and gyms -

For now his store Honmaru -- meaning the core of a Japanese castle -- is only in Tokyo, but Imamura hopes to expand to other regions hit hard by bookstore closures.

A quarter of Japan's municipalities have no physical bookstores, with more than 600 shutting in the 18 months to March, according to the Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture.

Imamura in 2022 visited dozens of bookstores that have managed to survive the tough competition with e-commerce giants like Amazon, some by adding cafes or even gyms.

"But that is like putting the cart before the horse. Because if a gym is more profitable, 90 percent of the shop may become a gym, with 10 percent for bookselling," Imamura said.

- Crowd-pullers -

Rokurou Yui, 42, said his three shelf-sharing bookstores in the same Tokyo area are filled with "enormous love" for shelf owners' favourite books,

"It is as if you're hearing voices of recommendations," Yui told AFP.

Owners of regular bookstores put books on their shelves that they have to sell to stay in business, regardless of their personal tastes, he said.

"But here, there is no single book that we have to sell, but just books that someone recommends with strong passion and love for," he said.

Yui and his father Shigeru Kashima, 74, a professor of French literature, opened their first shelf-sharing bookstore, called Passage, in 2022.

They expanded with two others and the fourth opened inside a French language school in Tokyo in October.

Passage has 362 shelves and the sellers help attract customers with their own marketing efforts, often online.

That is in contrast to conventional bookstores that often rely on owners' sole sales efforts, he said.

On weekends, Yui's store sometimes "looks as if it were a crowded nightclub with young customers in their 10s, 20s, 30s" with edgy background music playing, he said.

Customers and shelf-owners visit the bookstore not only to sell and buy books, but to enjoy "chatting about books", he said.

Japan' industry ministry in March launched a project team to study how to support bookstores.

"Bookstores are a hub of culture transmission, and are extremely important assets for the society in maintaining diverse ideas and influencing national power," it said.

(O.Joost--BBZ)