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Japan's book scene is moving from bookstores to libraries

241 points · 113 comments · herbertl

  1. ChickeNES · · focus · HN ↗
    > Are you a book lover?

    > If you are, I suspect you already do this: when you travel abroad, you find yourself walking into a local bookstore.

    > I do it everywhere, not only in Japan but also abroad. My shelves hold some Chinese and Russian books even though I cannot read a word of them. A bookstore is one of the best places to understand the local culture: what people there are curious about, what they worry about, what they love.

    This sounds more like a fetish for physical books to me? I find it bizarre myself, books are just knowledge containers, if you can't read them...what's the point?

    1. xoxxala · · focus · HN ↗
      I do something similar with boardgames. I like to import foreign language games or pick them when traveling. They don’t need to be in English for me to enjoy and appreciate them. I have games from Germany, France, Spain, Japan, China, Brazil, and the UK.

      My favorite is Kolejka, a Polish game about queuing at nearly empty stores during communism.

      <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;boardgamegeek.com&#x2F;boardgame&#x2F;85325&#x2F;kolejka" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;boardgamegeek.com&#x2F;boardgame&#x2F;85325&#x2F;kolejka

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