Reading Spaces in Modern Japan

Abstract

This study provides an accessible overview of the range of reading spaces in modern Japan, and the evolution thereof from a historical perspective. After setting the scene in a short introduction, it examines the development of Kanda-Jinbōchō, the area of Tokyo that has remained for a century the location in Japan most bound up with books and print culture. It then considers the transformation of public reading spaces, explaining how socio-economic factors and changing notions of space informed reading practices from the early modern era to the present. This led, in turn, to changes in bookstores, libraries, and other venues. Finally, it briefly considers the nature and impact of virtual reading spaces, such as the representation of reading and reading spaces in popular culture, and new modes of reading mediated by the digital realm as well as the multifaceted relationship between these and older forms of reading practice.