Looking for Rare Books? Annual Secondhand Books Fair Held in Tokyo's Book Town

To novice foreign Japanologists, this might be unheard-of, but it's back again this year - the Secondhand Books Fair in Kanda, Tokyo, starting October 23.

You might not know Book Week, but we Japanese have a certain week in the year we should read more. Joking aside, we do have such a thing called Book Week in the week of October 27-November 9 annually, and the township of Kanda, home of bookstores, customarily throws a wholesale secondhand books fair. Bookworms flock there for the fun of hunting out favorite titles.

This year some 100 bookstores take part in the 56th Secondhand Books Fair. By the 500-meter roadside along store after store of secondhand book dealers are displayed this year over one million titles. A middle-aged man said to NHK:

"Oh, I've never missed once - the secondhand book fairs. I'm looking for good mystery books this year."

A young lady, 20:

"I just passed by here.  I might buy a few picture books".

The fair organizers say there are quite a few foreigners in the crowds. Ryousuke Sako, director of Kanda Secondhand Books League. comments:

"More foreigns come to the fair lately for sure and we ought to engage English-speaking staff in supporting them".

Neck-deep in the age of IT, most of us have less and less to do with printed media, so one might surmise. But then, come to Kanda during the week and convince yourself otherwise.

You skim through the heaps of books, and you are bound to bump into the works of your favorite authors of yesteryears. Seasoned bookworms know that modern bookstores are like junkyards, pardon the expression, and come a long way to Kanda to look for gems.
If our readers should happen to be in Japan this week, do find time to join the crowds in Kanda.