04.Jul.2022
DISCOVER JAPAN
Daikanyama bookstore
Today let me talk about a splendid bookshop in Daikanyama. It’s one of the most beautiful and modern bookstores I have ever been in my life. In a perfect world, all bookshops would be like this!
Surronded by Shibuya, Nakameguro and Ebisu, Daikanyama is known for its small boutique shops, giving it the nichname “Brooklyn of Tokyo”. You can reach Daikanyama by Daikanyama station on the Tokyu Toyoko Line.
The “T” of Daikanyama T-Site stands for rental chain Tsutaya books, whose seemingly bottomless pockets helped fund the kind of book emporium that most capital cities can only dream of. Daikanyama T-Site(Tsutaya) is a veritable cultural institution dedicated to celebrating books, music, and art. There are people who visit Tsutaya books for its architecture and then fall in love.
Audio books may replace paper books in the near future, but I am pretty sure there’s still a strong reverence for printed matter in Japan, and a good example of this is Tsutaya bookstore which keep flourishing even in the digital age.
Tsutaya books is quaint, chic, and full of beautiful cafes and one of the 20 most beautiful bookstore in the world! Daikanyama Tsutaya books is an area full of charm itself, and I think that even people that are not much into books should go there to check out the architecture and how they make the place feel like a designed house more than a bookshop. There you will have a retro bar with leather sofas and the best cocktails served by very attentive and skillful bartenders.
Daikanyama Tsutaya books was designed by Klein Dytham, an architecture, whose aim was to build a book emporium and cultural complex by rental chain Tsutaya and it is worth visiting to admire the complex alone. Tokyo’s Klein Dytham Architecture won an award at the World Architecture Festival for their work on Daikanyama T-Site.
In this big bookstore you can explore offerings across food, travel, art, music, and various hobbies, with complementary products catering to every niche possible.
Daikanyama Tsutaya books magazine section is also impressive. There are hundreds of selections across a wide range of genres. Additionally, independent and mainstream journals alike are well-represented, and it’s one of the few places in the city where you’ll find not only in English but also many other languages specialty magazines under one roof. For example, up till its discontinuation, you would always be able to find the latest issue of cult food magazine and so on.
It’s definitely a lovely library with great design and style. From outside it feels like a mini complex with three buildings connected by bridges, tons of books and magazines, movies, and music as well. Amazing place to spend hours to read books and have a tea or coffee.
Despite Tokyo is famous for small shops and restaurants, this bookshop is an unusually large, sprawling bookstore, with plenty of reading spaces throughout, especially on the first floor. This one of the most visited bookstores on weekday mornings where people go to studying or reading in piece taking advantage of all the empty seats. The central building has a nice and spacious second floor in case the first floor gets too crowded. The second floor of the bookstore has a bright, airy reading area in the music section. You can also find several comfortable sofas in the children’s section, live piano music and Anjin, a lounge with super comfortable leather-cushioned chairs. If you’re looking to enjoy some vintage periodicals and cocktails in a sophisticated setting, the upstairs Anjin lounge is hard to beat.
Daikanyama Tsutaya books is heavenly for those who love books as I do. I also love the cafes around it because they are very nice.
By spending an entire afternoon surrounded by a good range of different language titles, art books, antique tomes and magazine back issues, including music and DVD sections, truly made my day. I want to go there again very soon.
Thank you for reading me and I really hope I will be able to write about my new adventure.
