Nihonbashi: Maruzen & Takashimaya

Back in the United States, I’m one of the owners of Huxley & Hiro, an independent bookstore in Wilmington, Delaware, where I also live. So, I have a vested curiosity in bookstores of all kinds, since it’s crucial for business owners to constantly innovate, pivot, and update their practices. I’m sure I’ll be visiting a lot of bookstores while I’m here in Japan, but I started by seeking out Maruzen, which I had read had a large selection of books in English.

I will say that several things struck me about the place almost immediately–first, it’s a huge store, and very popular. I was also surprised by some of the “gift” items that they carry–there’s a small clothing and accessories section, a significant amount of stationery, and a pen section that I can only describe as jewelry store-like. I texted a friend at home to say that I wondered if pens carried as much caché as gemstones, because the showcases I saw (and the eye-watering price tags!) suggested as much.

There was also a substantial stationery section, with dozens of different combinations of letter (oops, I mean A4, or A5, or something like that) sheets and envelopes; one can mix and match to their heart’s content. I found a pleasingly retro Air Mail writing tablet and envelopes, with which I have already begun peppering people back home with letters that they didn’t ask for (and probably also didn’t want).

After I got my fill of pens and paper, I made my way up to the (reportedly) “voluminous” English book section, based on… well… Google. I’m ashamed of myself as a professor and researcher, because what I found did not at all support the hearsay I’d seen online.

There is one aisle on the top floor that is devoted to foreign (that is to say, non-Japanese) books; these are primarily English, but there are some others scattered in. Part of the aisle that connects perpendicularly–in other words, the far end of the aisle you can see in my photo here–also contains a lot of English/non-Japanese books, including language-learning materials.

Don’t get me wrong–this is a substantial collection, but I was not in the mindset at the time of my visit to try and figure out what, if anything, I might want to read. I was hoping for more of an airport-style “browse and grab,” but because of the space constraints on the store (based on my own knowledge of such things), I am sure it’s a constant struggle for the managers of this section to decide what to keep in stock.

I did end up buying Tokyo: 29 Walks in the World’s Most Exciting City, which seemed useful at the time. Unfortunately, I should’ve been more attentive to the publication date, and since it’s over a decade old, it has become essentially useless beyond basic geography (i.e., many of the museums, institutions, etc. have closed, moved, etc.). Fortunately, I brought a copy of Tokyo Maze with me–and it has truly been incredible so far… I’ll just have to figure out what to do with this dud of a book.

I didn’t feel like heading straight home, so I meandered across the street to the Takashimaya department store, which was an experience in and of itself.

I wasn’t expecting the building to come across sort of like a mall in the sense that many of the brands on most of the floors (which were thematically organized to some extent) were separated into different “stores” or “shops” that appeared to operate independently… though I can’t say for certain. On others, it was almost like being at a big American department store like Bloomingdale’s in NYC–or, perhaps more accurately, Harrod’s of London, considering the massive food hall/grocery store in the basement. Come hungry… there’s no shortage of delicacies to be had down there.