The best bookstores in Tokyo

The Tsutaya chain can be found around the country, often with a Starbucks inside so visitors can sit down with a coffee and a book off the shelf before buying. The T-Site location is made up of three buildings that house cookbooks, travel guides, literature in Japanese and translation, art books, music, movies, and a lounge dedicated to vintage Japanese and overseas books and magazines from the 1960s and ’70s. All of this is connected by a ‘Magazine Street’ running through the centre. T-Site was built according to the concept of a ‘Library in the Woods’, and despite being situated along Daikanyama’s high-end Kyu Yamate-dori, glass walls and trees planted around the buildings’ edges make for a literary sanctuary. 

The name says it all: Bohemian’s Guild is a place for those who love to surround themselves with the work of the leftfield greats. The ground floor will greet you with books on painting, photography, fashion and architecture from around the world, as well as poetry compilations, philosophy and critical theory. Up the narrow staircase in the back is a gallery of paintings, sketches and handwritten essay drafts, as well as calligraphy by the likes of Kenzaburo Oe and other authors that penned modern classics.
 

Formerly a nine-storey bookstore, Kinokuniya’s southern Shinjuku location might have been reduced to only a single floor in 2016, but what a floor it is. Dedicated to English books that are laid out in categories such as contemporary bestsellers, translated Japanese books and dozens of literary genres, the shop also carries books in French, Italian, German and Spanish, which is rare in Tokyo. There are regular events at which English book compilations (most recently LGBT books) are added, on the anniversaries of well-known authors’ deaths, and on seasonal holidays. You can get here from inside Shinjuku Station.


At the centre of over a dozen universities and colleges, Tokyo’s Jinbocho neighbourhood is a stomping ground for book lovers of all ages and areas of interest. Kitazawa English Books has been gathering used books from the nearby schools since 1902 to function as a library, research centre and secondhand bookstore for curious-minded English-speakers. You can find literary classics, philosophy, religion, plays and poetry on ceiling-high shelves and piles on the floor inside this shop, which feels as welcoming and well-stocked as a professor’s home. 

Tucked along the Koganecho Art Bazaar gallery and studio strip under the Keikyu Line train tracks in Yokohama is this homely shop that sells used books and the works of the Bazaar’s artists in residence. Inside you can pour yourself a cup of coffee and browse through vintage Japanese magazines and film flyers, novels, postcards, art books and prints. The shop also offers antique children’s books, a small English section and a glimpse into Yokohama’s art scene through zines and handcrafts that were likely made by the artists in the store’s surrounding studio spaces. Outside are bookshelves filled with used ¥50 Japanese novels, and the rest of the Art Bazaar that spans from the store to Koganecho Station.