午夜剧场

I wanted a place.

I didn't know exactly what kind of place that was.

This was when I was 20 years old.

I was making music and writing poetry, thinking I might become a lawyer in the future, or trying my hand at community-based art projects; I spent my days without anything being clear.

Starting a secondhand bookstore happened because of a very small trigger.

In Ena City, Gifu Prefecture, where I live, there were no independently owned secondhand bookstores anywhere.

There were large bookstores. However, I was unable to find the kind of wonderful place that I actually wanted to go to.

So, if I said I decided to create one, I suppose that would be true. While it's not a lie, it also feels like the reasons are just things I attached after the fact.

I loved books. I loved them and read many. And I loved music. I loved the smell of old things, places where people could be quiet, and treating something precious with care.

And more than anything, I think now that I wanted a place where I myself was permitted to be who I am.

And I wished, above all, for the people around me to live their own irreplaceable lives with care. I believe that is a certainty.

I believe this place, the secondhand bookstore "Niwabunko," is what gave that wish a form.

In an old house over 100 years old at the foot of Mt. Kasagi, with a giant ancient nutmeg tree and the majestic Kiso River before my eyes, I simply want the people who come here to live their own natural selves amidst the richness of the natural world viewed from the veranda.

That is all I hope for.

The books are those I chose with the hope that they would provide a catalyst for living that way. I continue my work wishing for this to be a place like a cradle that embraces the existence of the countless lives that simply exist on this planet.

Both far and near, we spend our days warming the unique time that belongs to each of us on this planet.