Previously, I visited the Shaanxi Provincial Library’s High‑tech Zone branch and took a look around. Inside there were roughly two groups of people: one group had seen the news of the new library opening online and came with their whole families to visit, and the other group were there to study (a quick peek showed that most were middle‑aged people preparing for civil service exams, teaching positions, or various other tests. Some looked quite old, but like the students in the library, they were using an iPad, several books, and paper and pens to write and draw seriously).
For modern people, there are so many ways to acquire knowledge, and obtaining books is generally very convenient and cheap, so a reading space like this may indeed not be much needed.
So J borrowed a small book describing Japan’s Heian period and took it along on a trip to Japan.
While physical bookstores in China have basically become obsolete (excluding those for coffee and photo‑taking), Japanese bookstores still thrive and are easily accessible to Japanese people.
Basically, in larger shopping malls and at train stations, which play the most important role in Japanese daily life, bookstores are everywhere.
The Japanese publishing industry has its own peculiarities—namely “bunko” (paperback) and “shinsho” (new books). These books are roughly palm‑size, easy to hold with one hand and can be conveniently slipped into a pocket. In Japanese bookstores, especially near stations, you’ll find rows upon rows of bunko shelves.
These types of books don’t contain much content; they generally introduce a single topic or condense a classic work into a small booklet (a market in China now dominated by short videos). They are perfect for picking up on a train, whether seated or standing, and reading a few pages. In fact, many people actually do this.
During the trip, J would often enter any bookstore he came across for a quick look around. Of course, the language barrier made the content hard to understand, but simply browsing all the titles on the shelves was already very entertaining.
Q 在前十八岁时经常出入图书馆借书，不报任何目的去阅读。
所以留在了这里
Q 写东西写好烂
