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<\/a><\/p>\nYagisawa\u2019s popularity in the West was sparked by a 2022 translation of his Days at the Morisaki Bookshop into Italian. The following year, the English version was published, translated by Eric Ozawa; to date more than 600,000 copies have been printed. In 2024, it was nominated for debut book of the year at the British Book Awards, and in March of this year, Yagisawa was invited to the London Book Fair.<\/p>\n While he is now a globally successful author, the path here was not an easy one. It was only after the COVID-19 pandemic that overseas popularity led to his \u201crediscovery\u201d in Japan.<\/p>\n Tokyo\u2019s Book District, Jinb\u014dch\u014d<\/p>\n Days at the Morisaki Bookshop was originally published in Japanese by Sh\u014dgakukan in 2010, and a film adaptation was released the same year. After the main character Takako has her heart broken by a colleague and quits her job, she starts working at her uncle\u2019s modern Japanese literature bookstore in Tokyo\u2019s Jinb\u014dch\u014d district<\/a>, which is famous for its many used bookstores. Here she rebuilds her life through healing encounters with books and the people around her. Yagisawa was inspired by his own connections to Jinb\u014dch\u014d.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a job as a writer at an editorial production company in Kanda, and after work I would always go home through the used bookstore district. Walking through the streets, one evening, I suddenly had an idea for a novel, and I finished writing it in about a month.\u201d<\/p>\n After falling in love with Jinb\u014dch\u014d as a high school student, Yagisawa regularly visited while he was at university studying screenplays. He was always hanging out at stores with books related to screenplays and movies, as well as spending time at caf\u00e9s, including the long-established Sabouru, which became a model for the caf\u00e9 in his book.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can browse for secondhand books, and there are the kind of coffee shops I like with old-fashioned charm,\u201d Yagisawa says. \u201cBefore we got married, my wife worked at a Jinb\u014dch\u014d bookstore. Because she enjoyed modern literature, I started reading it too. That might have influenced the setting of my novel.\u201d<\/p>\n A Painful Period<\/p>\n Yagisawa had taken the first step, but was still a long way from being a bestselling author. He published the sequel More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, Days at the Torunka Caf\u00e9 set in Tokyo\u2019s Yanaka district, and If I Live With You (not yet translated into English) about two stepsiblings who find a lost cat, but sales were disappointing.<\/p>\n \u201cWorkplace fiction was popular at the time, with demand for a flashy, provocative view of the world. My stories were seen as slow and bland,\u201d Yagisawa says.<\/p>\n He lost all confidence after receiving a number of hurtful comments, and stopped writing new books for many years. He even experienced panic attacks while trying to write. During this period, he read widely in philosophy and psychology, trying to find anything that could aid his emotional recovery even a little.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was the most painful period of my life. I reached rock bottom. But by studying human psychology\u2014which I\u2019d been interested in for a while\u2014again from scratch, it also became a meaningful time. I made a full mental recovery, and once I came out on the other side, so to speak, I was able to return to writing.\u201d<\/p>\n Days at the Morisaki Bookshop got its first translation into traditional Chinese for a Taiwan edition. Taipei-based agent Emily Chuang, who helps facilitate translations of novels from many countries, played a key role in the speedy spread of Yagisawa\u2019s book in the West.<\/p>\n \u201cEmily read the Taiwan edition and apparently really liked it. As she\u2019s an agent who deals with global distribution, particularly for Europe and North America, everything fell into place from there. My book found many readers in Italy before publication at HarperCollins\u2014one of the Big Five publishers\u2014and I could only think, \u2018Wow! That\u2019s amazing!\u2019 like it was happening to somebody else.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>
The interview took place at the Neko no Hondana bookstore in Jinb\u014dch\u014d, Tokyo, (top) where people can rent shelves as their own tiny \u201cstores\u201d on which to sell the books of their choice. Yagisawa\u2019s own shelf (bottom) has translations of his books in various languages. (\u00a9\u00a0Hanai Tomoko)<\/p>\n<\/a>
Yagisawa outside the caf\u00e9 Sabouru. (\u00a9\u00a0Hanai Tomoko)<\/p>\n