BUNKITSU, a completely new bookstore with an admission fee and an attached coffee shop that offers time and space for customers to choose books, opened on December 11th in Roppongi, Tokyo, on the site of the former Aoyama Book Center Roppongi branch.


Bunkitsu is a bookstore where you can discover books. Buying books is becoming less commonplace, and spending time in places with a cultural atmosphere is becoming more valuable. However, the richness of interacting with a book and spending time absorbed in a book remains unchanged. Could we create a place that enhances the value of the bookstore experience by creating a space where customers can relax and by being creative in how books are displayed? With this in mind, Bunkitsu was born, named after the idea of "enjoying culture." The store carries approximately 30,000 books, ranging from the humanities and natural sciences to design and art. After paying a 1,500 yen admission fee at the reception desk, you can choose your favorite book in the study-like reading room, the spacious raised seating area, or use the cafe to satisfy your hunger. We got a sneak peek at how to "enjoy" Bunkitsu at a preview held the day before the store's opening.

How to Enjoy Bunkitsu

1. Pay the admission fee at the reception desk at the entrance and receive your admission badge.

After paying the 1,500 yen admission fee at the reception desk on the first floor and receiving your admission badge, you're ready to enter. It's open from 9am until 11pm, so you can spend the whole day poring over books.



The gallery just before the reception and the corner with magazine racks stocking around 90 types of magazines are spaces you can enjoy for free. The gallery holds a special book-related exhibition every month. From the time of opening until January 31, 2019, an exhibition titled "The Power of Magazines" will be held, focusing on the revival of the visual magazine "hinism," for which Tomari Akio serves as creative director, after a 10-year hiatus. Past archives of the magazine from issue 0 to issue 9 will also be available for purchase.



2. After receiving coffee and green tea (free refills) at the food and beverage reception, find a seat of your choice.


At the top of the stairs is the area reserved for badge wearers. Pick up free-flowing coffee or green tea at the food and beverage reception and reserve a seat of your choice. There are a variety of seating options, including a single sofa by the window in the coffee shop, a raised area with cushions, a seat by the bookshelf, a seat for around six people, or even a study-like space in the reading room where you can concentrate alone. The floor is equipped with Wi-Fi, power outlets, and lockers.

Coffee Room
Reading Room

3. Take your time and choose a book.

The approximately 30,000 books have been carefully selected one by one with vividness and sincerity as the motto, in the hope of creating a diverse relationship between readers and books, including books that you will never forget at first sight and books that you will discover new charms in as you read them more carefully. The genres are diverse, ranging from food, fashion, photography, film, Japanese literature, and comics to history, business, and IT. There is also a wide selection of books on genres such as art and architecture that are rooted in the Roppongi area. Of course, you can purchase any books you like on your way out.




4. If you're feeling a little hungry, have lunch or a snack in the cafe.

There is a wide variety of menu items available in the cafe. The menu is full of tempting choices that will make it hard to decide on anything, including the signature beef cheek hayashi rice, pork curry with stewed pork belly, Neapolitan pasta topped with a soft-boiled egg, and alcoholic beverages such as Hoegaarden and Yamazaki, all of which begin to be ordered from 11:30 a.m., thick-cut buttered toast perfect for breakfast, a salad bowl with 10 kinds of vegetables, coffee jelly with whipped cream for dessert, and lemon and honey tart, which goes well with cafe latte, rich matcha latte, and mandarin juice.

Hashed beef cheek rice
Lemon and honey tart

Whether you're a reader or not, you're sure to fall in love with books. Come visit Bunkitsu and discover new books.