Photo/Illutration Children read electronic books together in the morning at an elementary school in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, in December 2021. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

I say “yes” whenever asked at the checkout counter of a bookstore whether I want a jacket on the book I’m buying.

The jacket conceals the cover of the book, making the title invisible. I like that moment, which gives me a strange feeling like I have a little secret.

Sociologist Ikutaro Shimizu (1907-1988) wrote in his “Nihongo no Gijutsu” (The art of writing Japanese) that when he saw the title of a book a passenger was reading on a train, he felt embarrassed, as if he had “seen something I should not have seen.”

By the same token, he wrote that when someone discovered what book he was reading, he felt as if that person had “peeped into the inner reaches of my mind.”

Shimizu noted he felt it was “a secret matter” that his mind truly resonated with the mind of the book’s author and thought the exchange should naturally take place in secrecy.

Reading a book is like an act of having a personal and secret communication with the author in a way that goes beyond space and time and keeps the reader isolated from others.

This year’s Reading Week has just begun. The average number of books elementary and junior high school students read has almost doubled compared with three decades ago, according to an annual survey about reading habits.

The results are a bit surprising, given the frequently voiced warnings about children’s tendencies to read less and less.

One factor behind the increase appears to be a growing number of schools that set classroom reading time in the morning.

Children undoubtedly find joy in reading books in classrooms with other students.

However, I want to also recommend reading either paper or electronic books alone. It could be on trains or at school.

I think people of all generations can sympathize with the sense of embarrassment Shimizu once felt.

After finishing a book, I remove the jacket and put it on a bookshelf at home.

How many books can I encounter during the rest of my life? How many more “secret matters” can I experience? I wonder this alone on a clear autumn weekend day.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 30

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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.

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