Hara Shobo — Attraction in Tokyo

The single worst (but funniest) experience I've ever had in Japan.

I love old books, so this area of Tokyo is paradise for me. I started browsing the books outside Hara Shobo and found a couple I really liked. I wanted to know what they were about so I used Google Lens to translate the frontpage of the book. The old (not very) gentleman thought I was taking pictures started yelling at me took the books and shoed me away. It was a misundersrading, I get it, no big deal.

So I followed him inside the store (I wanted a book!!) I said many times "sumimasen" (that is, "sorry") and I use Google translate to say I was not taking pictures just wanted to know what the book was about before buying it (I knew it was some kind of poetry but just that). The guy was not having it. Wouldn't communicate with me kept gesturing to go away. So I went to the lady in the store, again with my phone on translate, trying to explain I was not taking pictures just translating to English the title. She was very flustered, tried interacting with me, but they guy was not having it.

At this point it became scary and comical at the same time. The guy answered (on his phone) "copyright", so I showed my phone again (which said "I was just trying to translate the title") to which he answers "buy it and then look at it". Probably a mistake on my part, but I answered "don't you want to know what something is before buying it?" It was really not going well.

At some point the guy clenched both fists and started visibly shaking. Like really shaking. I instinctively took a step back -- if you've ever seen a cartoon of a volcano just before exploding, that's what he looked like. I have never seen something like that before, much less in a store in perhaps one of the most touristy parts of Tokyo.

I paused, luckily I kept my composure and didn't really react to his frustrated rage (I was in a state of comedic shock or something like that) pointed at one of the three books and said "buy", then said and gestured "one" and pointed again at the book.

I give him a bill to pay (his demeanor changes immediately), he gives me all three books and makes me pay for all three. You can imagine my train of thoughts as I was looking at the incorrect change (which was the change for the price of all three books) pondering what to do next. Do I really want to trigger world war III over some old books?

So I say, in Japanese, "no, one". He looks at me and says something (no idea what). Again, in Japanese I say "one" and point at the one I wanted. The lady gets it, starts taking the money to give me back the correct amount for one book, he starts talking to her and stops her in her tracks (I don't know what he said, but in my mind it was something like "nope, don't do anything, let's see if he just takes all three").

So I think to myself, "ah, he's doing his job.."

So I pull out the three books from the bag, count them in Japanese, "one, two, three" and say "one" putting the one I wanted back in the bag.

At first I get kind of ignored (or maybe my "one" in Japanese didn't sound right..) but eventually he looks at the lady, she pull out the right change and I have my book, and the correct change.

But i need a cigarette and some sake, I'm exhausted!!!

I get it, it is not easy to communicate across such different languages, the bookstore owner/clerk was pretty old so I imagine the world has changed a lot around him, all the more now with Japan being filled with tourists, but ouf, that's an experience I will never forget.

Will I ever go back to Hara Shobo? Probably not. Or maybe just to see if he recognizes me and starts panicking or shaking!

Do I recommend it? Eh, there are so many other bookstores around, it's not like you won't find some beautiful old...

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