Valet Reader

How I haven’t already reviewed this bookstore I just don’t know. Considering the fact that for over a year I lived within a block and a half from it and was in it at least three times a month. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I never ever bought anything there. Pretty strange right, me walking into a bookstore and not buying anything, but just as “for every thing there is season” for every book store I don’t buy something in, there is a reason.

Located in the Japantown neighborhood of San Francisco (Fillmore and Post) this bookstore is two levels of awesome. Awesome in a non-traditional American book store kind of way. Why non-traditional? Well, for starters most of the books on the shelves in the store are written in Japanese. Therefore making it impossible for me to pick up a book and just start reading but also precluding me from making any purchases. Despite this though, I still love wandering around this store.

Sure I’ve been in bookstores in foreign countries that don’t have any English titles in them but clearly there is something unique about a bookstore in the United States that is more or less the same. I say “more or less” because they do actually have some titles written in English.

It had been sometime since I visited the store when I went there to do my research for this post and I must have spent over an hour in there browsing and having fun.

By far my favorite part of this particular store is their magazine section. Considering the fact that, as a kid growing up in the suburbs, on those nights when I had nothing to do I would go to the local bookstore and read magazines for a couple of hours this really is not much of a surprise. Again though, what makes this magazine section so incredible is that all the magazines are genuinely Japanese. And, for the record, Japanese magazines beat the hell out of American magazines. If you want car, cycling, snowboarding, skateboarding, wedding, arts, movie, teen, fingernail art, tattoos, men’s fashion, women’s fashion and boyband magazines this is the place for you. I’m not kidding.

As for the book portion of the store, it is equally awe inspiring. Of course I have no idea what the Japanese books in stock where all about (I, in no way or form could read the plaques indicating what genre of books they were), I was of course able to take a look at the books written in English. Sections of these books included: Martial Arts, Tea/Garden, Travel Japan, Japanese Gardening, Art and Tattoo’s to name a few. Among my favorites here was certainly the “Martial Arts” section seeing as they had complex books on samurai, their weapons and all kinds of crazy stuff.

You’d almost think that this alone would be enough for a single book store but in this case you’d most certainly be wrong. Aside from the books the store carries Japanese music and dvd’s as well as tchotchkes like those fake little sushi things they have in Japanese food restaurants and some sort of uber popular pen/marker (copic?).

Lastly, and I would certainly be the fool for not mentioning this, the lower floor of the store is dedicated to Manga. I don’t really have a clue what “Manga” is but I think they are just comics written in Japanese. Am I right?? Anyways, they have a ton of the stuff downstairs so if that’s your thing it’s not to be missed. I’ve heard its the best selection in the city and I have no reason to believe otherwise.

Lastly lastly, I urge you to visit this store on the weekends. Why? Because that is when you are most likely to encounter children, teens or even adults dressed in costumes. Costumes ranging from pokemon characters and rice farmers to perhaps a bizarre girl dressed like some sort of Japanese business woman (can anyone tell me what that was about?).

After visiting this store you can’t help but share the sentiments of Kristen Dunst in this video: