DAYS AT THE MORISAKI BOOKSHOP
The wise and charming international bestseller and hit Japanese movie—about a young woman who loses everything but finds herself—a tale of new beginnings, romantic and family relationships, and the comfort that can be found in books.
Twenty-five-year-old Takako has enjoyed a relatively easy existence—until the day her boyfriend Hideaki, the man she expected to wed, casually announces he’s been cheating on her and is marrying the other woman. Suddenly, Takako’s life is in freefall. She loses her job, her friends, and her acquaintances, and spirals into a deep depression. In the depths of her despair, she receives a call from her distant uncle Satoru.
The wise and charming international bestseller and hit Japanese movie—about a young woman who loses everything but finds herself—a tale of new beginnings, romantic and family relationships, and the comfort that can be found in books.
Twenty-five-year-old Takako has enjoyed a relatively easy existence—until the day her boyfriend Hideaki, the man she expected to wed, casually announces he’s been cheating on her and is marrying the other woman. Suddenly, Takako’s life is in freefall. She loses her job, her friends, and her acquaintances, and spirals into a deep depression. In the depths of her despair, she receives a call from her distant uncle Satoru.
An unusual man who has always pursued something of an unconventional life, especially after his wife Momoko left him out of the blue five years earlier, Satoru runs a second-hand bookshop in Jimbocho, Tokyo’s famous book district. Takako once looked down upon Satoru’s life. Now, she reluctantly accepts his offer of the tiny room above the bookshop rent-free in exchange for helping out at the store. The move is temporary, until she can get back on her feet. But in the months that follow, Takako surprises herself when she develops a passion for Japanese literature, becomes a regular at a local coffee shop where she makes new friends, and eventually meets a young editor from a nearby publishing house who’s going through his own messy breakup.
But just as she begins to find joy again, Hideaki reappears, forcing Takako to rely once again on her uncle, whose own life has begun to unravel. Together, these seeming opposites work to understand each other and themselves as they continue to share the wisdom they’ve gained in the bookshop.
- Harper Perennial
- Paperback
- July 2023
- 160 Pages
- 9780063278677
About Satoshi Yagisawa & Eric Ozawa (Translator)
Satoshi Yagisawa was born in Chiba, Japan, in 1977. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, his debut novel, was originally published in 2009 and won the Chiyoda Literature Prize.
Discussion Questions
1. Takako didn’t know it, but the Morisaki book shop became her happy place. Have you ever surprised yourself by finding a happy place so unexpectedly?
2. What did you think of the way Takako’s boyfriend ended their relationship?
3. Takako and her uncle became close, after years of barely knowing each other. How did their individual situations inspire that closeness?
4. Takako slowly comes to understand that books can be her salvation, her cure for loneliness. Do you have a similar experience of coming to know what books can do for us?
5. Discuss the relationship between Takako and her uncle’s wife.
6. There are so many kinds of love portrayed in Days at the Morisaki Bookshop. Romantic love, family love, love of literature. How do these different types of love come together in the book? Which is the most passionate?
7. Do you think Satoru and Momoko will end up together? Do you think they should?
8. What does the book say about the role of bookstores in Japanese life? How is Morisaki like and unalike bookstores in your area?
9. What do you think happens AFTER Days at the Morisaki bookshop ends? Where do Takako and her friends and family end up?