[TRAVELS] Books Kinokuniya Shinjuku Main Store

If you are in Tokyo and looking for a comprehensive book store, look no further than Books Kinokuniya Shinjuku main store.

Following its national wide expansion in 1956, Kinokuniya first had its headquarters in Shinjuku in 1964. This building later became Kinokuniya’s main store which boasts 9 stories and 2 basements. The building also house a theatre where cultural talks and performances are held regularly. The idea of this concept goes back to the initial beliefs of Kinokuniya; that a book store should also be a centre for arts and culture elevation (Source).

There are two Books Kinokuniya book stores in Shinjuku, Books Kinokuniya Shinjuku main store is at Point A.

This book store is grand indeed, there were uniformed elevator operators!

L8: Reference Books, Language, Dictionary

L7: Arts, Entertainment , Western Books

L6: Picture Books, Children Book, Hobbies, Practical Uses

L5: Medical, Nursing, Welfare, Pharmacy, Dental, Kino Ticket

L4: Architecture, Science and Technology, Computer, Hall

L3: Law, Ploitics, Social, Management, Business, Economics, Work , Religion, Philosophy, Psychology, History, Education/Foreign Business Counter

L2: Literature, Book Collection, New Books

L1: New publications, Magazines, Fossils

B1: Maps, Travel guides

(Translated from the floor guide in Japanese.)

Books Kinokuniya Shinjuku main store is also one of the few book stores with a good range of Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) study books (Level 8), even other Kinokuniya branches does not match up to this. If your luggage has some space to spare, it is worth getting some JLPT materials as they cost way lesser than those overseas. Also, some guides are only found in Japan.

^1,200-1,600 Yen each about SGD $15-21.

Personally, I recommend the 日本語総まとめ (Nihon Go Soumatome, avaliable in Singapore) series published by ask Publishing. I like how they break down everything into manageable daily studies. While there are official JLPT test papers available, I do not recommend getting them. Going through them repeatedly can get one to pass their exams, but it also incubates one to memorise rather than learn.

Wait! There is MORE!!!

Behind the main building there is a smaller building, FOREST. It has 2 floors dedicated to comics (or Manga) and entertainment DVDs and CDs. It is a little heaven although it takes some getting use to look for titles. In the comics section, a large collection of books can be labelled just by genre or by an author’s name. A more complete review can be found here.

The post [TRAVELS] Books Kinokuniya Shinjuku Main Store appeared first on AFA Channel!.