京都から初めてのブログポスト：Ｄ

Hi! I`ts been about 2 weeks since arriving in Kyoto now, and I have yet to write a single thing about Kyoto, Doshisha university or my stay at the 修学管　(shuugakukan)! For this I can blame no one but myself. Well, myself and the splendour that is Japanese bureacracy :p, of course. After 2 weeks of writing numorous forms, undergoing exams and tours, Classes will finally start coming monday!:D And seeing as most of the classes are in the morning, I shall be able to utilize time in the afternoon to my new hobby; Book-off scavenger hunts!

For those of you not familiar with the concept that is Book-off, it`s basically a dense chain of second-hand stores throughout Japan that sell pretty much all your entertainment needs, from Manga, to Drama, Novels, and Video-games. The picture below examplifies what I mean by `dense`:





the icon being a book-off outlet, it is clear that there are book-offs aplenty. These book-offs are totally bike-able by the way, as i`ve been to half of them this afternoon to document the first in a series, my mission to visit as many book-offs as humanly possible.

Book-off scavenger hunt: Part 1

The first one Book-off I`d like to start with is relatively new to me, as is it quite out of the way to my `usual` bike ride to Doshisha campus. As can be seen below, a solid mountain prevents me from directly going up there (the red circle indicating the Book-off in question, the blue circle my dorm).

第一






I rather like this Book-off, actually. It has but a single floor, but still has a nice arrangement of stuff, certainly the large section of reasonably priced DVD`s alone makes the trouble of driving out into no-man`s land worthwile. I`ve had t restrain myself not buying entire series there, eager as I was in the first Book-off of the day, but the foresight of carying them around all day helped in restraining myself, but that is not is not to say I won`t return there if I find myself travelling up north. On a side note, it was really nicely cool in there :D which I greatly appreciated in the midst of Kyoto-esque weather.

Name: ブックオフ・京都宝ヶ池店

Floors: 1

Pre-packaged sets of manga: no

Selection (grade 1 out of 10): 8

Location: 6

Overall grade (not an average): 7,5

Adress: 京都府京都市左京区岩倉南桑原町５４

第二







This books is the closest to my dorm, and actually the most cramped up little Book-off I`ve been to yet! I couldn`t even made a proper picture without crossing the street first. Once inside the Book-off I couldn`t help but feeling like walking into the type of an old, small, cozy bookshop we all love. Having been to the high-tech, esculator-equipped Book-off in Shibuya this was quite the change in atmosphere, heck, I almost fell of the squeecky stairs themselves when having to dodge an (offcourse) FOREIGNER coming from the other direction :p but he was a fellow book-off enthusiast, so he`s forgiven :). As I was saying, this Book-off is rather small, and the selection kind-of-disappointing. To be fair, it was very crowded when I was there today, so some parts of the selection may have eluded me, seeing as some people just book-block you for a seemingly eternity if they are standing in front of a particular section, indulging in 立ち読み, or reading while standing /rant.
All in all not a bad Book-off by far, though, but not advisable during rush-hours.

Name: ブックオフ・京都鞍馬口店

Floors: 2
Pre-packaged sets of manga: Yes, but mostly pink/girly ones.
Selection: 7
Location: 8 (a perfect 10 will only be awarded when I finalize my dreams of actually living atop a Book-off store)
Overall grade: 7,5

Adress:
京都府京都市上京区上御霊前通烏丸東入上御霊前町４１１−３


第三







This Book-off was in fact my first fix of Book-off since returning to Japan this September, and thus quite special to me. Well, that, and the fact that it is quite enormous. Furthermore, it`s location makes it a perfect combination with a shopping spree in the nearby malls :D, just make sure that your bike doesn`t get nicked for being parked in the wrong place, as I`ve seen trucksloads been filled to get hauled away in front of this Book-off :/.

Inside, there are 3 floors, all of them spreaded out over a large chunck of space, making manouvering around easier than most Book-offs I`ve been to. The selection, needless to say, is wide and far, although they lack the 105 yen section of `smaller-kind-of-manga-volumes` which of I do not know the technical term. Overall a great Book-off of which I`m sure I`ll visit often!

Name: ブックオフ・京都三条駅ビル店

Floor: 3
Pre-packaged sets of manga: Yes, although not the best ones
Selection: 8
Location: 8,5
Overall grade 8,5

Adress: 京都府京都市東山区三条通大橋東入大橋町１１７

Well, that`s it for now! I`ve been to some (excellent) others, but those have to wait until a next time :D　Regular posts will also resume shortly, for the mean time, Els has several great posts on life in Kyoto for those interested, linked to in the right bar :). bye!