SENDAI--By the end of August, this city will lose a small business that once provided a sanctuary where children could take their minds off of the surrounding destruction and misery.

Yuichi Shiokawa, 61, made a tough decision to close the Itsutsubashi branch of Shiokawa Shoten, a small bookstore with a total floor space of about 66 square meters in the Miyagi prefectural capital.

Shiokawa’s father originally opened the shop in a different place 62 years ago. It later moved to its current location in Sendai’s Aoba Ward.

Several community-based bookstores have gone out of business in the city. But the closure of Shiokawa Shoten is particularly heart-wrenching.

The Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, cut power and sent books tumbling from the shelves at Shiokawa Shoten. The manager temporarily closed the bookstore.

Two days later, when he was waiting in a long line at a supermarket, several young mothers told him their children were frightened by aftershocks and news footage of the tsunami.

They wanted to comfort their kids with the help of picture books and manga.

Shiokawa tidied up the mess in his store and reopened it the next day on March 14.

Power was soon restored in the area, and residents dropped by at the bookstore as if attracted to the light.

Eventually someone asked about the Weekly Shonen Jump comic anthology.

DISTRIBUTION IN TATTERS

The day the bookstore reopened also happened to be Monday, the release date for a new issue of Shonen Jump. But with the magazine distribution network between Tokyo and Sendai in tatters, there was no prospect of a delivery.

“One Piece,” a pirate manga serialized in the weekly comic anthology, was enormously popular at the time, and fans in Sendai feared they would miss out on the new episodes.

But one week later, a customer showed up and gave Shiokawa a copy of Shonen Jump published on March 19 that he bought in Yamagata Prefecture.

The manager posted a sign at the storefront, saying: “You can read Shonen Jump! We have just one copy!”

The magazine was placed on a shelf in front of the cash register, and elementary and junior high school kids took turns reading it.

Lines immediately formed, and adults joined the queues in the evening.

Shiokawa told them not to hassle others and to be considerate to those waiting in line.

Three days later, an Asahi Shimbun reporter who happened to be passing by noticed the sign, interviewed Shiokawa and wrote a story about the bookstore, creating an online buzz.

From around the country, people sent Shiokawa several copies of Shonen Jump and other manga magazines. He placed them all at the store for browsing.

He even received a call from an employee of Shueisha Inc., publisher of Shonen Jump, who said: “We were at a loss because, as a publisher, we didn’t know what we could do for disaster-stricken areas. When we learned that a copy of our Jump was useful, we all cried tears of joy.”

The phone call lifted Shiokawa’s spirits.

LABELED ‘INAPPROPRIATE’

After the Asahi article was published, Shiokawa received several complaints from people saying that promoting manga was inappropriate after so many people were killed in the tsunami.

He also felt unsure whether it was right to allow customers to read comics without buying them, even in an emergency situation.

In the end, Shiokawa felt what he did was right.

The copy of Shonen Jump was shared by more than 100 readers. Its print faded and the pages became tattered.

Afterward, Shueisha approached Shiokawa and asked him for the copy so that the publisher could preserve the magazine for display.

Distribution of magazines to disaster-hit areas resumed one month after quake.

Normal life slowly returned to Sendai, and Shiokawa Shoten also resumed its usual operations.

Publishing executives and manga artists visited the bookstore to show their respect.

Although it was touted as a “legendary bookstore,” Shiokawa Shoten’s struggling business never improved.

Customers are now opting to buy books in digital format from online stores or at Tokyo-based bookshop chains. Some people just browse books and magazines in convenience stores without buying them.

Even Shonen Jump doesn’t sell like it used to.

Shiokawa saw other bookstores in Sendai go out of business.

BREAKING POINT

Determined to keep his shop open, Shiokawa started working a part-time side job at night in 2012 and took turns with his wife to look after the store.

But he eventually reached a breaking point.

He posted another sign, this time to announce the closure.

He says he feels content about working at Shiokawa Shoten for more than 40 years after he started helping his father.

And he has continued taking pleasure in chatting with locals who drop by and seeing their children grow up.

Shiokawa said he has placed importance on ties with local people, as he did immediately after the disaster.