Kanda-Jinbōchō

Kanda-Jinbōchō is the world's largest concentration of second-hand bookshops, a scholarly district in central Tokyo where more than a hundred antiquarian dealers cluster within a few blocks. Long associated with universities and publishers, it has been the city's book town for well over a century.

Books define the streetscape. The main avenue, Yasukuni-dori, is lined with shops whose shelves and outdoor stalls overflow with used and rare volumes, from cheap paperbacks to valuable first editions, ukiyo-e prints and antique maps. Many stores specialize, one dealing in art books, another in cinema, another in foreign-language titles, so browsers can spend hours moving from one to the next.

The area grew around learning. Several major universities took root nearby in the Meiji era, and the demand from students and scholars drew the booksellers who defined the district. Publishing houses and specialist presses still operate here, reinforcing its literary character.

Curry and coffee are local institutions too. Jinbōchō is unexpectedly celebrated for its dense population of curry restaurants and old-fashioned coffee houses, or kissaten, where readers linger over their finds. Sporting-goods and musical-instrument shops occupy neighboring blocks, adding to the district's specialist retail mix.

For visitors, Jinbōchō rewards unhurried wandering. It is served directly by subway lines and lies within walking distance of the Imperial Palace grounds and the Akihabara electronics quarter. The pleasure lies less in a single sight than in the atmosphere of a neighborhood devoted to the printed page, best enjoyed by dipping into shops at random. An annual autumn book fair fills the streets with stalls and draws collectors from across the country. Most shops keep daytime hours, so a weekday afternoon is ideal for exploring.