Regular customers say they thought it was natural to have one, but the owner says, “Nothing is natural to have one.” This is the story of Fujiya Bookstore in Tokyo, Japan, which was founded in 1923 and has been closed for 102 years. As Nopo Bookstore has been closed due to poor business conditions in recent years, the situation in Japan, which is moving away from books, has become more prominent.
According to the Asahi Shimbun on Tuesday, sales surged after the store posted a notice announcing the closure of Fujiya Bookstore on April 8. Customers were disappointed to see the store closed. The bookstore, located near Jiyugaoka Station in Tokyo, is an old bookstore that has been running for three generations since its owner’s grandfather started it. “When the store was founded, it was burned down by the Tokyo Air raid in 1945 and relocated to its current location,” Asahi said. “The bookstore has continued to be a cultural hub by placing children’s bookshelves in the best place in the store.” However, sales of the bookstore, which accounted for only half of the sales, continued for several years, and decided to close as it was deemed impossible to manage the store anymore.
The closure of the traditional Nopo Bookstore is not unique to Fujiya Bookstore. Nitaka Bookstore, which opened in 1898, closed its business in 2023. Last year, Osama Bookstore, which was founded in 1967, closed its doors.
Such a situation illustrates Japan’s declining number of public libraries as well as bookstores. The Yomiuri Shimbun reported on the same day that an analysis based on last year’s data from the Japanese Library Association and the Publishing and Culture Industry Promotion Foundation found that 256 municipalities, or 15 percent of Japan’s 1,718 municipalities, do not have any bookstores or public libraries. The figure is a slight increase from 247 as of 2022. “The number of bookstores in 2003 was 28,880 to 10,918 in 2023, almost halving in 20 years,” Yomiuri said. “This is due to the emergence of Internet bookstores and reduced reading hours due to the spread of smartphones.”
EJ SONG
US ASIA JOURNAL
