Visiting a Japanese book festival in Tokyo's book town Jinbocho【Japan life】

[Music] foreign [Music] which is known as the book town of Tokyo so I'm really excited to be here today but what makes it extra special today is the fact that there is a massive Book Festival happening so if you like videos like this don't forget to like And subscribe and let's get into it before we begin I just want to show you this mat so you can see the sheer size of the festival look how big this is so this is going to take a lot of walking but I am so ready so let's go [Applause] [Music] so right behind me is this massive display of books and it's kind of like a library built into an outdoor wall I've never seen anything like it before but it's really cool foreign so there are a bunch of different stalls and shops that specialize in different types of literature so the shop right behind me specializes in manga and I've seen a few that specialize in music books a few that specialize in magazines so you can literally find anything you're looking for here as long as it is a type of book which I find really interesting because that means if you need any kind of book there's only one place you need to go and that's here as when traveling around anywhere in Japan I always recommend to go down the side streets because there are so many surprises there and that's no different here today make sure you check out the side streets because there are a few hidden little book shops down there also just to give you a little bit of the history this place was named after a samurai in the 17th century and then in the Great Fire of 1913 sadly this place was mostly destroyed but then it was rebuilt and officially turned into the book town that it is today another important thing to mention and it is quite obvious but I have to say it if you love the smell of books particularly old books you will absolutely love it here it is quite a strong smell and luckily for me I love it and I find it extremely comforting so if you do too this is the perfect place for you look how old some of these books are especially the ones down here crazy [Music] so I've noticed quite a lot of particularly the older books you can see there is one book inside like a cardboard sleeve like kind of like a box we also have that in the UK but typically it's for a series of books so you wouldn't really see just one book inside a sleeve it would be like a set like the Harry Potter books for instance there'd be in a set with the Box around it not just one book and yeah I hope that makes sense so we're now approaching Kanda Suzanne Street and it's like a separate part of the festival that's there so we've just seen one part and now we're going to the next part there's truly so many books here today I'm a little bit shocked actually but yeah let's go and check that out [Music] so there are so many bookstores down here we haven't even looked at half of them yet what's really cool is that there are a couple of stools where they say that you are allowed to negotiate and barter which I think is excellent there's also a few universities here selling different books as well so there is definitely a large selection and something for everyone I can't believe I've never been here before I will definitely be coming back but yeah there's still so much to see so let's go and keep looking so even though today there are a lot of books stalls there's also a lot of book shops here as well as restaurants and cafes so you can buy a book and then sit somewhere and chill and maybe even read it so I really like that a lot there are various cafes here that I've never seen before in Tokyo and a lot of them specialize in books so a great area to read a book and enjoy some coffee and the food here smells really good I'm looking at books but my stomach really wants food right now because the smell is so good look at this store it sells Christmas stuff it's so cute look at the Bears and Santa [Music] okay [Music] so I just bought a book by Keiko higashino and he is one of my favorite Japanese writers I read the devotion of suspect X and Malice and those are two of my absolute favorite books so I'm so happy that I was able to get another book by him today and it was only 500 yen which is such a bargain there were also two other books there that I really wanted as well so I really had to make my decision carefully but yeah I am so happy I got this book I am so excited to read it here it is salvation of a saint I love the cover as well I'm so excited I'm so so excited it's gonna look so good on my bookshelf next to the other books I already have by him so this is a used book which I don't mind at all I think some people are really picky and like brand new books and I love brand new books but I think it's important as well to buy used books because otherwise what will happen to them if nobody else buys them that thought just breaks my heart so yeah I'm really really happy so we found a store that sells vintage magazines and they even have Life Magazine I think a lot of these will probably be worth a lot of money and they're all in really good condition this bookstore is so cool I think the design of it is amazing I believe these books are used but I'm not sure because they're all in such good condition um but yeah I really love the Vibes of this store they have very modern music chandeliers it's quite small so you do have to wait outside if it's full before you can come in but it's totally worth it it's like stepping into another world foreign so right behind me here is a garage space that they've converted to sell magazines and pieces of art I don't know if that's just for today or if this is something that's usually here but nevertheless it's really cool and it totally took me by surprise there's a lot of artworks here which is quite cool I suppose yeah a lot of people are interested in art and photography it's really nice here it looks so old it's kind of crazy how many old books we've seen today we've been in a few um rare bookstores and they have like first edition really really old books and I'm so surprised to just see them on display because I would think they would need to be protected but no I've seen so many of them on display today and it's been really really cool so that's it for today's video you guys I had so much fun it was really crazy to see how many books were here today and they totally had a little bit of everything they had books for children books in so many different languages I was really surprised I loved it so much the bookstore that we went into earlier that I said that I really liked that was very modern so we later learned that the books that were there are actually not donated but sold by people so what you do is you rent a space on the bookshelf and then you can fill that little space with books to sell and you get the money for it so it's easier than selling your books in an actual shop or online you can sell them there and just have a bookshelf with your books which I thought was amazing but yeah honestly I've had a great time today this might be one of my favorite places in Tokyo so I also learned that there are 80 bookstores here that sell exclusively old books there are 40 bookstores that sell new books and over 400 Publishers here so this is definitely the place to go if you love anything book related and I am so happy that I was able to come here today and honestly this has been so but much fun but anyway let me know in the comment section below what your favorite books are thank you so much for watching and I will see you in the next one bye [Music]

Channel: Squishy Talk

Views: 31,871

Keywords: Squishy Talk, スクイシートーク, Japan life, visit Japan, travel in Japan, Japan trip, Japan, tokyo, 外国人の反応, 外国人美女, 日本生活, Jinbocho, festival, 神保町, books, 古本まつり, shopping

Id: tXmwhESuhok

Length: 10min 0sec (600 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 03 2022