in iraq we have a street in baghdad called "Al-Mutananbi street" which is a loooongg street full of bookstores and only bookstores. you can find old men displaying used books on the sides of the street which they just keep there at night because no one steals books. you'll find the biggest arabic publishing houses in there and so many indie bookstores and many of them have a big english books collection
..... well, you're adding another dream place for me to visit. Wow, yeah, that sounds like another haven. Adding it to my google maps. Thanks for the recco!!
The Kanda and Jimbocho area has long been home to many universities and publishing companies, and there were many bookstores in all fields. When students found themselves in financial difficulty, they would gather up all the books in their rooms and sell them to second-hand bookstores to fill their stomachs. Then, when they graduated, they would sell a large amount of their textbooks and expensive specialized books to second-hand bookstores, and exchange them for business suits and other necessities for working adults. Of course, students were not the only users. Second-hand bookstores sometimes have treasures buried inside them. I used to love wandering through bookstores. Sometimes you'll find Kabuki scripts from about 100 years ago. For those who are interested, Jimbocho is full of small second-hand bookstores that you can explore for a few days.
Nice video - I was in Tokyo about 10 years ago or so, and when I visited Jinbocho there was a free map of this district available for tourists, which showed the shops color coded, based on which languages each shop featured (the very fact that they would have come up with such a map blew my mind already) - so I used that map to scout out the English language books - and still I had the same experience as you - I'd expected to scan thru this area in a day, and each separate shop felt like it was going to swallow me up - I still consider this area unfinished business - I have this fantasy of going back and staying till I've bought each and every one of the books that attracted me - but that way madness lies ... 😲
Whenever I lose the motivation to read, I just pull up one of your videos. Your passion for reading and your exploration of cool bookstores reminds me that books will expand my world and make my day richer. Thanks for all the work you put into your videos.
Honkichi in Shimokitazawa is a must go for any book lovers in Tokyo, they also carry some really great vintage english books usually (if I haven't bought them before you get there)
Suuuuch a delightful video! I love seeing the emphasis on filming and cinematography. Also, although I would NEVER begrudge an income, there is something kind of nice about not having a sponsor. I obviously don't have any idea what it is like to actually be a youtuber, but there is a sense that you are freer when you are working independent. It reminds me of the earlier days of being subscribed, where it feels like such an intimate little community. Perhaps it is more like that on your patreon but alas, I am poor. Let it be known that a steady income would make it so you were the first person I would subscribe to. XX
I have lived in Tokyo for over 30 years and I have had to cull my book and record collections by 100s at a time The degree of detail and breadth of scope is extraordinary, there are more books on Leica cameras ( for eg ) in Japanese than in German Japanese people are voracious readers
My whole life I imagined Tokyo shops to be so nutty and gritty. Like NYC on speed x 1,000. Kind of the opposite! Very cream-colored with pops of brights and polite uniformity. Thank you for sharing 😍
Very cool video. I really enjoyed this. We just moved to Japan about a year ago. I am having trouble finding English language books for my 8 year old daughter. But so far that's about the only downside of living in Japan. That and I cannot read, write, or speak Japanese !!!! Loved your "this coffee is delicious" face. You could have been a silent screen star.
Daikanyama Tsutaya Books is just a 15-minute walk from the last bookshop you visited in this video. It’s a spacious, trendy bookstore and one of the most popular spots in Tokyo.
Here in Mexico City most second hand bookstores do have books in other languages. English, French, German and, ironically, Japanese are almost always available. Oh, and "open air" bookstores are also a thing.
So cool Ana, I love the cover design of Japanese books. When you think theres a district like this for like EVERYTHING in Tokyo, not just books, it’s mind blowing. Color me jealous!
Come to Egypt. We have a very similar area in Fouad Street. It can be translated to Prophet Danie, I guess? It's filled with bookstores, museums, old buildings, it's a place stuck in time. Though be careful with your camera 😂
You should visit College Street in Kolkata, India. It is the largest book market in India as well as Asia and the largest secondhand book market in the whole world.
This is the mecca of curry, with original curry restaurants lined up next to second-hand bookstores. I once found a prophecy about the future of the world. It was written before World War II, but when I look at it now, I'm surprised at how accurate it was.
Yeah g'day, calling Starbucks a coffee shop is an insult to good coffee houses but I loved the book shop tour. There a places like Jinbocho around the world. places like Wigtown (Scotland), Hay on Wye (Wales), and probably her in Aust.
I was fascinated by that door opening and closing with no one around (behind you). They have porn magazines and regular books in the same store. Give me a good old American bookstore any day.
I'm Japanese. Secondhand bookstore streets are really fun, aren't they? There was some Chinese-sounding music playing in the video. I was a little disappointed by that part.
I totally understand the disappointment! I apologize-I looked up ‘Japan’ in my music software and those songs came up. I should’ve done better research
Thank you for your answer. It's easy to understand if you remember that there are no traditional Japanese musical instruments that involve plucking strings with a bow. It's a small thing. Please continue to enjoy Japan.
More often people go to Japan, the more they will like to hang out in Jimbocho than tourist spots. It's not a college town in Tokyo but it's surrounded by college towns so it becomes place for college books, sporting goods. US equivalent would be like living in GIANT library with train station and condos.
the best youtuber that gives tokyo vibes and ambience so well i fellt like i am in tokyo browsing through bookstores and please make more content like that
Thank you for your introduction but, I just wonder that why always different music foreigner tourist choose to create the video just like this who is introduced about Japan?It's sound like China.
One thing that really surprised me when I went to bookstores in Japan was the fact that each bookstore has a separate big section for hate books (books with content that hate Korea), and hate books are sold in huge numbers, The Japanese colonized Korea (1910-1945), looted, plundered, killed a lot of people, forced 200,000 young Korean girls to become sex slaves for the Japanese army, and brought Koreans to Japan to work as forced labor. It's shocking that people from the perpetrator country like books that hate, dislike, and condemn the victim country and its people.
The irony of history is that Japan, the Axis power that committed countless such atrocities in Asian countries and pacific islands including Korea, eventually lost World War II in 1945, but the Korean War in 1950 led to a tremendous economic revival (factories were built in Japan to produce war supplies for the U.S. and U.N. troops), and the country has been prosperous ever since. The hypocrisy of Japanese people who love hate books is creepy.
You might find it shocking because they're 'hate books' but as citizen of a place colonised by the British for centuries whose crimes were mostly whitewashed, you'll be surprised how much casual racism and bigotry there is against all British colonial subjects in English classic literature. Japan is certainly not the only country to do it.
Japan's economic growth has stalled over the past 30 years, and we are now in an economic recession with no end in sight. Reflecting the reality of Japan's hopeless future, some Japanese people are nurturing jealousy and hatred toward neighboring countries that were once colonized by Japan but have now surpassed Japan in economic growth. Thirty years ago, the majority of bookstores were filled with books that reflected on the historical path Japan has taken and sought to build good relations with neighboring countries, but now, inflammatory books by a few nationalists are driving out the good books of the past. For example, a publishing company that produced a number of historic masterpieces in the field of subculture was taken over by vulgar nationalists and began publishing hate books. Ethnocentrism, which incites xenophobia, is an extremely dangerous and worrying phenomenon, but the current situation is that Japan is currently being dragged down by that xenophobia. Greetings from Tokyo, Japan
in iraq we have a street in baghdad called "Al-Mutananbi street" which is a loooongg street full of bookstores and only bookstores.
you can find old men displaying used books on the sides of the street which they just keep there at night because no one steals books. you'll find the biggest arabic publishing houses in there and so many indie bookstores and many of them have a big english books collection
this is so cool!
@@floralalune1299 it’s one of the coolest coziest places ever!!
A dream of mine is to visit it, greetings from Algeria.
..... well, you're adding another dream place for me to visit. Wow, yeah, that sounds like another haven. Adding it to my google maps. Thanks for the recco!!
The Kanda and Jimbocho area has long been home to many universities and publishing companies, and there were many bookstores in all fields. When students found themselves in financial difficulty, they would gather up all the books in their rooms and sell them to second-hand bookstores to fill their stomachs. Then, when they graduated, they would sell a large amount of their textbooks and expensive specialized books to second-hand bookstores, and exchange them for business suits and other necessities for working adults. Of course, students were not the only users. Second-hand bookstores sometimes have treasures buried inside them. I used to love wandering through bookstores. Sometimes you'll find Kabuki scripts from about 100 years ago. For those who are interested, Jimbocho is full of small second-hand bookstores that you can explore for a few days.
I can’t believe how lucky we are with this kind of content😭😭😭😭😭
You and Oleg are like the fun aunt and uncle that bring cool stuff and amazing stories from their adventures and I love it😂
Nice video - I was in Tokyo about 10 years ago or so, and when I visited Jinbocho there was a free map of this district available for tourists, which showed the shops color coded, based on which languages each shop featured (the very fact that they would have come up with such a map blew my mind already) - so I used that map to scout out the English language books - and still I had the same experience as you - I'd expected to scan thru this area in a day, and each separate shop felt like it was going to swallow me up - I still consider this area unfinished business - I have this fantasy of going back and staying till I've bought each and every one of the books that attracted me - but that way madness lies ... 😲
This is a great bucket list item: traveling around the world and visiting bookstores (not the only thing to do, but one of them).
I went here last year when I was in Tokyo and it was great!! Watching your video brought back fond memories. ❤
This girl is chill as hell
Whenever I lose the motivation to read, I just pull up one of your videos. Your passion for reading and your exploration of cool bookstores reminds me that books will expand my world and make my day richer. Thanks for all the work you put into your videos.
Japanese books have such brightly color spines and make me think of school workbooks for math or grammar.
They say book stores are dying but evertime i go to my local spots they're always fairly busy.
Cool book store adventures, thx!
Honkichi in Shimokitazawa is a must go for any book lovers in Tokyo, they also carry some really great vintage english books usually (if I haven't bought them before you get there)
Suuuuch a delightful video! I love seeing the emphasis on filming and cinematography. Also, although I would NEVER begrudge an income, there is something kind of nice about not having a sponsor. I obviously don't have any idea what it is like to actually be a youtuber, but there is a sense that you are freer when you are working independent. It reminds me of the earlier days of being subscribed, where it feels like such an intimate little community. Perhaps it is more like that on your patreon but alas, I am poor. Let it be known that a steady income would make it so you were the first person I would subscribe to.
XX
How did I find this? TH-cam algorithm = magic. I love your channel.
This is a wonderful video and just perfect. Loved it. ❤
“It’s always a long day.”
Oleg is a real one 😂
This is the kind of bookstore reckless bookslut activity I'd go untested for. Excellent video, I hope you two had a fun time on your vacation!
I have lived in Tokyo for over 30 years and I have had to cull my book and record collections by 100s at a time The degree of detail and breadth of scope is extraordinary, there are more books on Leica cameras ( for eg ) in Japanese than in German
Japanese people are voracious readers
Nice to see japan's love ❤️ for the book 📖 😀.
Thanks for showing these incredible stocked stores .
Greetings from England 🏴 Simon and Beth ❤❤❤
Hi Simon and Beth! Thanks so much for stopping by :)
Oleg. Man of very few words, but all the right ones
My whole life I imagined Tokyo shops to be so nutty and gritty. Like NYC on speed x 1,000. Kind of the opposite! Very cream-colored with pops of brights and polite uniformity. Thank you for sharing 😍
Tokyo in general is a complete different vibe than ny. Much less chaotic, more clean and tidy
@@TheOriginalDogLP interesting to see a glimpse! I would love to visit someday. Looks really beautiful.
I love the way you film and edit! Thank you for showing us these cool bookshops!!
Very cool video. I really enjoyed this. We just moved to Japan about a year ago. I am having trouble finding English language books for my 8 year old daughter. But so far that's about the only downside of living in Japan. That and I cannot read, write, or speak Japanese !!!! Loved your "this coffee is delicious" face. You could have been a silent screen star.
love everything about this, thank you for the content we don’t deserve
baby, you deserve it!
Exhausted, just watching you. I can’t imagine walking through all that for days.
hahha! can you imagine doing it in 90+ degrees (F)?!?!
@@AnaWallaceJohnson I say no no no.
Waiting for your visit to 7-11.
Hope you are enjoying the trip. Always been a dream of mine to visit Japan.
I'm impressed how fast Ana's grown her hair. I was beginning to think she's turned into a Shaolin monk
Best book videos on the internet!
Lived there for three years; I love the memories you brought back...
And it's Jimbocho!
Daikanyama Tsutaya Books is just a 15-minute walk from the last bookshop you visited in this video. It’s a spacious, trendy bookstore and one of the most popular spots in Tokyo.
Here in Mexico City most second hand bookstores do have books in other languages. English, French, German and, ironically, Japanese are almost always available. Oh, and "open air" bookstores are also a thing.
What a fantastic find. 📚
Thank you Ana!!
So cool Ana, I love the cover design of Japanese books. When you think theres a district like this for like EVERYTHING in Tokyo, not just books, it’s mind blowing. Color me jealous!
Matching couples’ shorts ❤
日本人です。古書店と喫茶店を永遠ループする時間は極上だと思います。
Outstanding. Many thanks for sharing. I will, I must go.
YOU MUST! It was really a treat to go there.
Very cool! Thanks for sharing!
Well you are in luck Miss, because I myself look a little bit vintage, a little bit different, and a little bit dusty! 🤣😜
This is such an awesome video!
Thanks Ana
I was wondering when you would use the whip sound effect in the video and there it is!: 9:00
Come to Egypt. We have a very similar area in Fouad Street. It can be translated to Prophet Danie, I guess? It's filled with bookstores, museums, old buildings, it's a place stuck in time. Though be careful with your camera 😂
You should visit College Street in Kolkata, India. It is the largest book market in India as well as Asia and the largest secondhand book market in the whole world.
Hii Ana amazing video as always!! Thanks for blessing my feed. I have a question, what cameras do you use to film? I love the way they look.
This is the mecca of curry, with original curry restaurants lined up next to second-hand bookstores.
I once found a prophecy about the future of the world. It was written before World War II, but when I look at it now, I'm surprised at how accurate it was.
It just hit me who Oleg looks like: Vincent Cassel!!
!!!! big crush! Someone recently said Vincent Gallo and I agree as well! It's those Vincents
Yeah g'day,
calling Starbucks a coffee shop is an insult to good coffee houses but I loved the book shop tour. There a places like Jinbocho around the world. places like Wigtown (Scotland), Hay on Wye (Wales), and probably her in Aust.
Oh yeah, I haven't had starbucks in a hot minutre. Not my favorite coffee, but some people love it! And I'd love to make it to all those places!!
Oh it's Eleven and Mike in Tokyo. IYKYK.
lmaooo we've come so far!!
She found the doujinshi world 🫠
I was fascinated by that door opening and closing with no one around (behind you). They have porn magazines and regular books in the same store. Give me a good old American bookstore any day.
hahah! I think it's more for collectibles. All the raunchy mags were older, nothing really new. But it surprised me a bit!
Did you stumble
Upon Morisaki book store?
God I love books❤❤❤
same, baby, same
Wow!! Are You there?!! 😳 Wonderful!! 😁👍
.... Big Dog....😆☺️😘🖐️
Yup.99 percent of my books I buy I. Japan
Thank you for the great video…but the music (BGM) that you use is SO Chinese.
Oh no! I apologize! I looked up ‘Japan’ in my music software and those were the ones that came up. I tried, I promise!
@@AnaWallaceJohnson thank you Ana for the reply… and I hope you will find the book that you are looking for.
5:38 雑に扱うとか、信じられん。
🎉
Tokyo is my dream trip maybe one day.
what is the name of the second last bookstore that had art and photography books?
oooh, I'm not entirely sure, but it's along the main strip of bookshops. there is a 7/11 or some other kombini close to it, if that helps.
No worries Jimbocho was pronounced perfectly. By the way the dumpling store right next to Book Dash is really yummy too.
I'm Japanese.
Secondhand bookstore streets are really fun, aren't they?
There was some Chinese-sounding music playing in the video.
I was a little disappointed by that part.
I totally understand the disappointment! I apologize-I looked up ‘Japan’ in my music software and those songs came up. I should’ve done better research
Thank you for your answer. It's easy to understand if you remember that there are no traditional Japanese musical instruments that involve plucking strings with a bow.
It's a small thing.
Please continue to enjoy Japan.
where is old/new select ?
More often people go to Japan, the more they will like to hang out in Jimbocho than tourist spots. It's not a college town in Tokyo but it's surrounded by college towns so it becomes place for college books, sporting goods. US equivalent would be like living in GIANT library with train station and condos.
18:03 thats a.... bug killing coils, I mean they do smell like incense yes.
omg haahha well, you learn something new everyday
Don't tell my you haven't slurped noodles yet.
it's Ohara
Please, please do not repeat Jinbocho..😂
Jimbocho actually made me jealous irl. I was like damn.. I wish I was still young college student and this was where I studied. 😂
I'm a Japanese student of university near Jinbocho and I think I saw you guys in front of Vintage shop😂
Omg!! No way!! Oleg and I were probably sweating and hopefully we weren’t too obtrusive! :)
the best youtuber that gives tokyo vibes and ambience so well i fellt like i am in tokyo browsing through bookstores and please make more content like that
で何冊買ったの？😏
As someone who lives in Tokyo, I can atest that everything in this video is correct! Thank-you, Ana Wallace Johnson!
Thank you! Tokyo is amazing!!
Thank you for your introduction but, I just wonder that why always different music foreigner tourist choose to create the video just like this who is introduced about Japan?It's sound like China.
If I remember correctly, Jimbocho also has some great movie memorabilia shops with super cool posters of old Hollywood movies with titles in kanji.
Yeah! There is so much to explore. It feels like every shop has a particular niche and you can find everything. Truly!
One thing that really surprised me when I went to bookstores in Japan was the fact that each bookstore has a separate big section for hate books (books with content that hate Korea), and hate books are sold in huge numbers, The Japanese colonized Korea (1910-1945), looted, plundered, killed a lot of people, forced 200,000 young Korean girls to become sex slaves for the Japanese army, and brought Koreans to Japan to work as forced labor.
It's shocking that people from the perpetrator country like books that hate, dislike, and condemn the victim country and its people.
The irony of history is that Japan, the Axis power that committed countless such atrocities in Asian countries and pacific islands including Korea, eventually lost World War II in 1945, but the Korean War in 1950 led to a tremendous economic revival (factories were built in Japan to produce war supplies for the U.S. and U.N. troops), and the country has been prosperous ever since.
The hypocrisy of Japanese people who love hate books is creepy.
You might find it shocking because they're 'hate books' but as citizen of a place colonised by the British for centuries whose crimes were mostly whitewashed, you'll be surprised how much casual racism and bigotry there is against all British colonial subjects in English classic literature. Japan is certainly not the only country to do it.
Japan's economic growth has stalled over the past 30 years, and we are now in an economic recession with no end in sight.
Reflecting the reality of Japan's hopeless future, some Japanese people are nurturing jealousy and hatred toward neighboring countries that were once colonized by Japan but have now surpassed Japan in economic growth.
Thirty years ago, the majority of bookstores were filled with books that reflected on the historical path Japan has taken and sought to build good relations with neighboring countries, but now, inflammatory books by a few nationalists are driving out the good books of the past.
For example, a publishing company that produced a number of historic masterpieces in the field of subculture was taken over by vulgar nationalists and began publishing hate books.
Ethnocentrism, which incites xenophobia, is an extremely dangerous and worrying phenomenon, but the current situation is that Japan is currently being dragged down by that xenophobia.
Greetings from Tokyo, Japan
Please, please do not repeat Jinbocho..😂
lmaooo there was a struggle bus and I was ON IT