Chin Music Press - Adventures in Publishing

Old books in old Kyoto: 2

Kuhaku, the book | Japan market | Life in Japan

If Green E Books is a newcomer in the indie bookshop world of Kyoto, Keibunsya is her older, sexified sister.

Everything paneled in a beautiful dark stained wood with perfect accent lighting, laid out in well-thought-out proportions, Keibunsya is probably one of Kyoto's prettiest bookshops. It's large enough to be impressive but still small enough to maintain intimacy.

Keibunsya specializes in art and design oriented books and carries titles from around the world. The majority of their books, however, are in Japanese.

Walk around the inside walls and you'll notice little galleries embedded in the bookshelves � precious handmade leather books behind glass and lit from above. Move to the back of the store and you'll find a stationery section � pens, papers, envelopes � with a full-sized art gallery. At the time they were exhibiting the covers from old German pulp novels.

I walked up to the manager, with whom I had made an appointment and knew, having just strolled through the shop, that he was unlikely to take Kuhaku � far too much word, not enough image. Still, I showed it to him and as soon as he saw the 90% lit 10% art distribution, he immediately apologized and declined. Soft-spoken and wasting no time, eager to get back to whatever he was doing on the floor behind the counter, he was the model Japanese, maintaining perfect neutrality in declining our book. I thanked him and, as he began to descend behind the register, he added, "Please keep me informed of any further releases. Thank You."

I promptly mounted my geriatric bike under the blackening sky, the smell of rain heavy in the air, and furiously peddled back to Green E Books. Parking just as the first few drops of rain began to fall, I ran up the stairs jumped into the shop and said, "Still wanna buy that other copy of Kuhaku?"

Craig Mod >> May 21, 2005

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