After seeing a photo exhibition in Shinjuku, I went to the Used Book festival in Kanda/Jimbocho on the same day.
I look forward to this festival every year, and I was a bit hopeful that I might be lucky enough to find some bargains.
I was daunted by the sheer volume of people.
I was forced to make an effort to march forward through the crowd every time to get a position where I could look at the displays. I did this a couple of times but gave up early on, then…gave up.
I thought the world was all about e-books, but I had no idea there were so many real-used book lovers in the world.
One of the joys of used bookstores who collect all kinds of publications is that they have access to “books that are not distributed through general book agencies,” such as exhibition catalogs. One of my acquaintances was happy that he was able to recover after missing out on an important art exhibition catalogue thanks to this event.
Also, when it comes to old books, “complete collections” and “complete sets” come with them.
I often buy books in a strange way, like “I only read the top volume at the library” or “I have all volume except the fourth”. I mean, it is really valuable to have an antiquarian book distribution that ensures the option of acquiring all the volumes in a complete set. As an individual, I am torn between not giving up and looking for one book that is missing a tooth, or splitting the difference and buying all the volumes again and splurging, though, right?
On the same day as the used book festival, a wagon market is held by publishers in the back streets.
This was also very popular.
Wagons of publishers that have a large number of publications or books with high list prices are especially crowded. For example, Kokusho Kankokai, is that easy to understand?
I won’t describe the other crowded wagons because they all have similar patterns, but the most popular ones I noticed were Tokyo Sogensha, Kawade Shobo Shinsha, Shobunsha…. I guess so (lol).
I thought it would be a bad idea to return empty-handed from Jimbocho, so I gathered up my strength and went to the “Hon no Zasshi” wagon to buy a book in memory of Koji Meguro, a founding member of the company, who passed away earlier this year.
Not only bookstores, but also restaurants in Jimbocho were crowded with such a large number of people. The famous long-established curry store “Bondi” had a line like this in front of its storefront.
It was already well past lunchtime, but it was extremely popular. It’s interesting that the average age of the line at the curry shop is younger than that of the bookstore.
Well, I escaped the crowds in the antiquarian bookstore area and headed for Ochanomizu station from Surugadai-shita. It’s been a long time since I walked up this hill, feeling “the people have changed”…young people may not understand…I was walking with a nostalgic look at the old days, when I found a spot that I had to take some pictures of.
This is the Yamanoue Hotel, which was announced to be closed in February next year.
I’m not so familiar with the hotel as to knowingly say, “This place is closed, too, and I’m going to miss it.” In fact, I only remember using the hotel once for a party about 10 years ago. Even so, it is still a pity that one of the most famous symbols of Old Tokyo will soon be going out of business.
The last topic had nothing to do with the Used Book Festival, but it was a walk through the Kanda Jimbocho Book Fair.
