Here kitty, kitty

There is a small area of Tokyo, near the Imperial Palace, that is the center of publishing.  Jimbocho is home to over 170 bookshops, publishing houses, and literary societies.  The bookstores come in all sizes and many of them focus on one particular type of books: foreign, art, academic, and antique, just to name a few. 

We visited this area on a bright and sunny afternoon.  We wandered the neighborhood for quite some time, enjoying the feel of the neighborhood.  Nothing felt rushed or pressured, instead it felt decidedly relaxed. There really isn't a lot of flashing signs either, which I really liked.  The buildings seem to be older than many other parts of Tokyo, which added to the ambiance of the neighborhood. 

Five bookstores in a row!  A beautiful sight.

As a book lover, I was excited to see so many brick and mortar stores!  It often seems like people only purchase books online these days, but I still like to go and peruse the shelves.  I try to support these stores as much as possible, since I know they often struggle to stay in business due to the convenience of ordering from the comfort of one's pajamas.  (I am not anti-Amazon, I just like to spread the wealth and support locally owned businesses as much as possible.)

Even though there were many stores to choose from, there was one in particular that made me stop in my tracks.  I noticed it from a distance and quickly pointed it out to my husband saying "we need to go into that store!"  Jinbo-cho Nyankodou is a book store entirely dedicated to cats!  There were cat books of every kind - children's stories, how-to manuals, funny kitty photo books, and novels featuring the frisky feline.  They also had many gifts for cat lovers like calendars, furoshiki (traditional wrapping cloth), and canvas bags.

My husband chatted with the owner as I purchased a few items.  He originally was going to dedicate a small corner of his bookstore to cat merchandise, but soon discovered there was plenty of cat wares to fill his store.  The store consisted of three aisles that were filled with mostly books and periodicals, but also gifts.  That's a lot of kitties!  Interestingly, I didn't see a single Hello Kitty (the very famous Sanrio character) book or calendar in the store.

Even though all of his books were in Japanese (and therefore I would not be able to read them), I still could have spent a lot more time in his shop.  There were cute surprises all over the place!