Photo/Illutration A book store in Tokyo's Kanda-Jimbocho area in April (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

I went to a small cinema the other day. There were five or six people waiting in the corridor for the show to start, and every one of them was reading a book.

Yes, I mean a real print book. Not something on a smartphone.

The scene was so pleasantly nostalgic, I couldn't look away.

In her essay titled "Inu no Shippo wo Nadenagara" (Stroking a dog's tail), author Yoko Ogawa says, "I enjoy watching someone who's reading a book."

Noting that she gets as much pleasure from it as reading a book herself, she adds that when she is in a coffee shop or at a train station, her eyes invariably turn to anyone holding a book.

For instance, a high school boy was reading Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood."

Ogawa recalls thinking, "He still has the soft, innocent look of a young boy, but his choice of book is anything but. ... Right now, he is face-to-face with the senseless violence that could be lurking inside him."

Any book lover can relate to the pleasure Ogawa derives from just looking at someone who appreciates reading.

I visited a used book fair in Tokyo's Kanda-Jimbocho area on Nov. 4. Browsing around, I came across a book that caught my interest, but the person next to me snapped it up before I could.

"Oh, bummer," I swore inwardly. But then, I also felt like smiling at the person, "You've got a good eye."

The circumstances surrounding print books couldn't be tougher today. In the last 20 years, the number of bookstores is said to have shrunk by nearly half.

But there also are moves among store owners to refine the selections they carry and redesign in-store displays to ensure that their customers will continue to enjoy browsing and find good reads.

At the used book fair, I purchased critic Akira Asada's work, in which he likens all the books he has read to "mental index cards" that pop up unexpectedly.

We can never have too many such cards for when we aren't sure of something or need an inspiration or reassurance.

Japan's "Dokusho Shukan" (Book Week) runs through Nov. 9.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 5

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.