In Japan there is a bookstore that offers only one title a week

A small bookshop in Tokyo offers readers a very limited choice, practically nothing: just one book. Standing out from the usual display of latest releases and bestsellers, the libreria Morioka Shoten has only one to occupy the window, a proposal that contrasts sharply with editorial overproduction and the rise of online sales. “I thought if there was only one book, I wouldn’t need anything else,” explains the owner, Yoshiyuki Morioka.

One book a week

Every week he chooses the book to which he will devote his complete attention. With the motto ‘issatsu, isshitsù (one room, one book), the bookshop works with a simple system: the book selected for the week is accompanied by presentations, events and a setup that wraps the space for and around the reading experience. In a city like Tokyo, where options and stimuli dictate, the idea might seem like an unprofitable venture, yet the bookstore, set to open in 2025, is crowded every day. “The value is in the concept itself. There is no other library like this in the world,” says Morioka.

Rental

Even the choice of location – in the historical Suzuki building in the Ginza districtformer headquarters of the Nippon Kobo publishing house – was not accidental. With a limited budget, the goal wasn’t to design a space, but rather to “find one that already had a story.” As a young man, Morioka worked in a bookstore in the neighborhood of Jimbochothe literary epicenter of the Japanese capital, home to publishing houses and second-hand bookstores overflowing with books piled up in every corner.

There were so many titles that “it was impossible to see them all,” recalls the bookseller, who loved organizing in-store events to help people focus on a single book. “This made me realize that I needed a different approach to reading,” he says from the door of his bookstore, already crowded with curious customers examining the book of the week, wondering why exactly this titleand no other, deserves their full attention. After a week dedicated to the tea ceremony, in which utensils and cups filled the small space, Morioka this time chose a book focused on the seasons and the Japanese calendar. “I try to go beyond myself, to find something that overcomes my limitations and broadens my perspective,” he explains.

The anti-popular choices

Unlike its competitors, he doesn’t choose successful authors or classic novels that guarantee sales. Instead, he prefers to explore a different literature, far from the new releases that flood an already saturated publishing market on a daily basis. Outside the small room, Japanese publishing churns out a daily avalanche of new releases that flood the country’s bookstores.

According to publishing industry data, In Japan, around 80,000 titles are published per year, or more than 200 books per dayof which only a small part reaches a decent number of readers. This trend is also observed in other countries, such as Italy, where, according to the latest data, 30% of printed titles do not even sell copies. Added to this is the decline of traditional bookstores in Japan, the number of which has collapsed by almost 50% in the last twenty years, while the turnover from the sale of physical books has reached the lowest level in the last 50 years.