Old books

I love the smell of books. I sometimes go to bookstores just to browse the titles of the books, and pick up a book in random and smell its pages. I love the smell of old ones, too, although they can smell like dust or some other. Old books with their frayed and dog-eared pages feel like old friends. They hold secrets, they have evoked laughter or sadness or even boredom at one time or another.

New books are quite expensive, and I haven't really warmed up to the idea of buying and reading ebooks, which can be cheaper. I was looking for a second-hand bookstore in my area so I just googled "second-hand bookstore Kansai" and I found Wantage Books Kobe. It sits just across Shin-Kobe Station. I had to rely on the map provided here. They are open only on Saturdays and Sundays, so I set off one Saturday to look for the shop. And what I found was love! You can buy books for as low as ¥100.

I am surely going back there again one of these days.