午夜剧场

In April, I published a book titled "A History of Tachiyomi" from Hayakawa Shobo's "Hayakawa Shinsho" series.

"Tachiyomi"—browsing books while standing in a bookstore—is something any Japanese person takes for granted. However, people returning from abroad during the Showa era noted that this custom seems to be unique to Japan. On the other hand, the act of entering a bookstore and flipping through books has existed overseas for a long time. What does this mean?

Bookstores appear in the NHK Taiga drama "Berabou." However, Edo-period bookstores used a "za-uri" (sitting-sale) style, where tachiyomi was impossible. This raises the question: tachiyomi must have started somewhere and sometime in Japan after the Meiji era. My book, "A History of Tachiyomi," explores this. Please visit a bookstore and try browsing this book while standing.

But why was I able to become conscious of a Japanese custom that everyone takes for granted and overlooks?

In 1989, I worked as a student part-timer for night-time circulation at the Juku library (then the Mita Media Center). There, I noticed the problem of missing books. I used this as material for my graduation thesis under the guidance of Professor Shunsaku Tamura in the Department of Library and Information Science, which I entered as a second-degree student. At that time, I realized there was almost no prior literature on the problem of shoplifting in bookstores.

By the way, in my previous career as a reference librarian, there was a technique called the "simultaneous occurrence search method." This is a technique where, if you are researching a subject and cannot find much literature, you search for a different subject that occurs simultaneously. Initially, I had trouble finding literature on bookstore shoplifting, so I looked into "tachiyomi" as a related matter that occurs at the same time.

I have been a lover of old books since my days majoring in Western History. Around that time, I read Junichiro Kida's "Walking Through the Old Book District" and became interested in book research. Forty years later, in the April issue of "Modern Publishing Research" which I publish, I put together a special feature titled "The World of Junichiro Kida: All Things Books." Hiroshi Aramata contributed a lengthy piece, and both of them are 午夜剧场 alumni. I feel that I, too, may have been a part of the Juku's bibliophilia. I also have fond memories of Professor Nobukazu Mushanokoji showing me "kawari-ehon" (novelty picture books) during a class on the 5th floor of the library.

Masaki Kobayashi

Hayakawa Shinsho

200 pages, 1,320 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are those at the time of publication.