Whenever I travel, my favourite souvenir to bring back home is a book purchased at a local bookstore. Nothing speaks to me more intimately than a book that I have picked after spending hours browsing through unseen titles, talking to the bookseller about the popular books, asking them for recommendations and then finally selecting the titles that I want to spend my time with when I am back home. This is the best gift that I can give myself, getting two of my loves together–travel and books. So, here is a guide for all book lovers, my list of Tokyo’s literary charms.

For the love for Murakami

Two books that have inspired me to travel to Japan are –Norwegian Wood by Murakami, a hauntingly beautiful book about friendship, love and loss, a book which put Murakami on the global map.

And the second one is the controversial book Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, which is a coming-of-age story of a young girl from a fishing village to becoming a popular Geisha.

Though both books are works of fiction, it paints an introspective picture of Tokyo and Kyoto and thus intrigues you to visit these places and see the place through the lens painted by the authors.

Readers everywhere-a big part of the charm

Japan is a culturally and historically rich country, and that has a clear reflection in its literature and art. It is said that the world’s first novel was written in Japan, and it was written by a woman. And that love for books is clearly evident wherever you travel in Tokyo, and you get the first glimpse of it when you travel by local train.

Most people, young and old, are engrossed in their books, the best companion during the commute. The interesting part is that all of them have book covers, so you don’t know what they are reading, something that is part of their reading habits. It is partly to keep the book clean and new, and partly for privacy reasons.

If you want you can pick up book covers from any bookstore, they have a wide variety of it. This can be your souvenir of Tokyo’s literary charms.

Book & Bed-Tokyo

The first book-place that I visited was Book & Bed in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

Imagine a library with a few hidden beds thrown in so that you can tuck away and read as much as you want. Yes, that’s what this place is all about. A capsule hotel meets a library kind of space.

It also has a café in case you want to visit and just sip on coffee while reading some books. I find capsule hotel rooms claustrophobic, hence I decided to sip on some coffee and explore the books. They have a huge collection; the place is quiet, and I found the concept interesting.

I met some people who were staying there, bibliophiles who had this place on their bucket list and were so stoked about experiencing it. If you fancy a book along with a bed when in Tokyo, then this is a perfect place for you.

My favourite literary charm of Tokyo – Jimbocho

One interesting place that is heaven for book lovers is Jimbocho book town in Tokyo. It is one of the oldest surviving book towns in the world. It is said that there are over hundreds of bookstores selling books of different genres and secondhand books.

The best part I liked are the open-air bookstores covering the streets, completely unmanned. As I walked down the streets admiring books everywhere, I saw book-hotels, book-cafes, book-art, reading rooms. It is an absolute delight for bibliophiles. I felt like a kid in a candy land.

You can spend an entire day exploring this place, apart from books it has a lot of curry places where you can eat when you are tired and a lot of cafes where you can get your coffee boost. This place definitely is on top for me in the list of Tokyo’s literary charms.

Finding my book

Japan’s love affair with books is evident in Tokyo, with the number of beautiful bookstores you find there. It is known for some of the most impressive bookstores in the world. So, on my last day in Tokyo, I visited one of them-Tsutaya Books.

Tsutaya Bookstore

It is a huge bookstore with spaciously designed sections which is a combination of art, books, and a cafe.

Their book collection includes popular fiction, vintage books, coffee table books, and art books of all kinds. They also have a section which displays art collections of contemporary artists, Starbucks where you can sip coffee surrounded by books and art and a stationery section to indulge in.

Discovering the Japanese text

As I wandered through the sections, I first browsed through some of the Japanese books, admiring their elegant calligraphic text. The fascinating thing that I discovered was that the spine of the book is on the right, the front cover is on the back and the book is read back to front. It feels a bit disorienting for the first time.

When I delved further into it, I learnt that Japanese text is traditionally written in vertical format and is read right to left. But with western influence they started writing it horizontally where it is read from left to right.

It is a unique case where the text can be written both horizontally and vertically, and most people can read it both ways. None of the Indian languages have that quality as far as I know. But with the advent of screens, writing horizontally has become prominent due to technical reasons.

Book lover’s dilemma

After browsing through books with Japanese text, I moved on to the English books written by Japanese authors because that was something that I could read. I chatted with the helpful lady behind the counter who spoke in English, she asked me what kind of books that I usually liked reading and what I was looking for. When I told her that I wanted to read what was popular in Japan and not easily available on Amazon, she went around the bookshelves and gave me a heap of books, I was glad with the wide range of choice. I sat in one comfortable corner and patiently browsed through all the books because I knew that I would have to make a tough decision of picking just a few in the end.

When I shortlisted a few books and went back to her, she asked if I would like it gift wrapped. I said why not, as it was ultimately a gift to myself. That’s when I discovered Furoshiki- the art of wrapping things in pieces of square cloth and like all things in Japan it was such a simple thing done so tastefully. Oh Japan, I can’t tell you how much I love you for how you have art and beauty in everyday things.

With those beautifully wrapped books and a heart full of awe of Tokyo’s literary charms, I headed back to my hotel, knowing that there was still so much more left for me to discover about Japan. Many more trips to Japan were clearly in store for the future, till then I would cherish and read the books that I had picked up.

Read more Japan stories here : Unforgettable Japan and Shojin Ryori Kyoto