Books & Gallery Popotame — Local services in Tokyo

This store was a little off the beaten path but well worth the trip.

It’s such a great curation of indie comics from around the world, including Japanese books and self-published works that are harder to find at typical comics stores, a shelf of Korean comics, and little samplings from various other places.

In the back there are artists on exhibit, and the owner publishes an anthology called Popocomi which has been translated into other languages (English and Korean, as far as I’m aware). The person working was super friendly and made suggestions, plus she helped me find a specific Korean artist I’d been interested in for years but hadn’t been able to order anywhere online.

I can't recommend this place enough to anyone interested in comics or even just local and...

Oh ho! Books a-plenty! Arts a-plenty! Hippopotamuses a-plenty too! 🦛. I am serious.

Glad I made the little walk from the station to check this place out-- heard about it from Little Thunder's Instagram and congrats on her solo show. She's so famous. But yes! I perused this store for countless minutes and examined every sticker, zine, print catalogue, and photo in extreme and uncompromising detail. The music is vaguely new age alternative eastern Europe polka Japanese fusion, so expect that. Oh and the hours are kind of wonky so make sure it's not closed before you walk over. But even if it is closed there's another little gallery nearby (b gallery) and one of the few surviving Frank Lloyd Wright properties! I love Tokyo. I love books. All hail...

So lovely that I started getting all teary, I really wish more places like this existed. I spent like over an hour circling around the store reading and the shop owners offered me Plum Juice, so kind. The collection of books is also fantastic pure love for the form. I’ll have to...