Books about books and bookshops are pretty much a winner for me. I am actually a little wary though – what if such a book lets me down and (gasp) disappoints in its depiction of one of my favourite places in the world? Can such a book accurately describe my love for such places?
Well, no fears on this one. From the first few lines I was hooked.
From the beginning of summer to early spring, I lived at the Morisaki Bookshop. I spent that period of my life in the spare room on the second floor of the store, trying to bury myself in books. The cramped room barely got any light, and everything felt damp. It smelled constantly of musty old books.
But I will always remember the days I spent there. Because that’s where my real life began. And I know, without a doubt, that if not for those days the rest of my life would have been bland, monotonous, and lonely.
The Morisaki Bookshop is precious to me. It’s a place I know I’ll never forget
Young (well, in her twenties) Takako finds her life in Tokyo suddenly changed when her boyfriend out of the blue announces he is going to get married – not to her. This is a shock, understandably. Takako gives up work but then takes up the kind offer of her Uncle Satoru to live and work in his second-hand book shop in Jimbocho, a kind of Japanese version of Hay on Wye in Tokyo. She is initially reluctant, not really being a reader, and feeling that a move back towards family could be an admission of failure, but the quiet charm of the place works its magic and before long, living above the shop, Takako learns to love it.
“In the end, it doesn’t matter if you’re related by blood or if you spend years together in the same class at school or the same office; unless you really come face to face, you never really know someone at all.”
Although books are an essential part of the story, this book is really about relationships. Although Takako knows a little about her Uncle Satoru, it’s not really a lot and she hasn’t seen him in years – the rest of her family regard him as a bit of an idiot. Working for him, she gets to know her Uncle better, and realises that he is a much more complicated person than she realised. Satoru’s relationship with his wife Momoko is complicated. At the beginning of the book, we find that Momoko walked out five years ago, although in the second half of the book she returns.
This is a book that exudes gentle melancholia and a certain nostalgic charm, combined with the complexity of human relationships (well, humans and a cat) and the profoundness of life. Not a lot really happens, but as an encapsulation of a no-doubt idealistic Japanese lifestyle and as a meditation on the important things in life it worked wonderfully well for me. The Studio Ghibli feel is strong with this one, and I also think that fans of Haruki Murakami should like this one too, although this is not as complex.
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is for anyone who loves Japanese culture or literature, or would like to. At a mere 160 pages this can be a quick read – I read it in two short sittings – but like the best contemporary Japanese writing, it has scenes that I’ll remember for a long time. Whisper it quietly, but this is a great big hug in a book.
DAYS AT THE MORISAKI BOOKSHOP by Satoshi Yagisawa
Translated by Eric Ozawa
Published by Manilla Press, July 2023. First published in Japan in 2009.
ISBN: 978 178 6583 253
160 pages
Review by Mark Yon
