Days at the Morisaki Bookshop

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop (2010) is a novel by Satoshi Yagisawa, originally published in Japanese in 2010 before appearing in an English translation in 2023. The novel follows Takako, a young woman whose life is derailed when her boyfriend reveals he is marrying another woman. To heal, she stays at her uncle’s bookshop in the famous Jimbocho neighborhood, where she builds community and discovers a love of reading. The novel was commercially successful in both Japan and internationally, winning the Chiyoda Literature Prize and being adapted for the screen in Japan.

This guide uses the 2023 Harper Perennial paperback edition translated by Eric Ozawa.

Content Warning: The source text contains discussions of abortion and child loss.

Plot Summary

When Takako’s boyfriend, Hideaki, tells her that he is marrying another woman, Takako does not know how to feel. The woman he will marry is their coworker, and his relationship with her is longer than his relationship with Takako. Takako is heartbroken, but Hideaki acts as though nothing will change, and that they can continue to spend time together. Takako falls into a depression and struggles through her work days. The stress of seeing both Hideaki and the other woman forces her to quit her job.

Takako spends most of her days asleep in her apartment in Tokyo until her uncle, Satoru, calls and offers her the opportunity to stay and work at his bookshop. He owns the Morisaki Bookshop in the Jimbocho neighborhood, a place famous for its many second-hand bookstores. Takako accepts, though she remembers her uncle as an odd and unserious man. When she arrives at the shop, Satoru shows her the room above the shop and asks Takako to open the store for him in the morning.

The next morning, no customers come in for hours. When an older man finally appears, he yells at Takako when she reveals she does not read. Later, when Takako asks Satoru about the man, Satoru explains that he is Sabu, a regular. Sabu comes in for conversation and friendship as well as literature. When Satoru suggests Takako take Sabu’s suggestion and read, she laughs him off.

Takako sleeps more than half of each day, spending as little time with her uncle or in the shop as possible. She cannot face her memories of Hideaki and her relationship with him. One day, Satoru asks Takako to take a walk with him. He brings her to a coffee shop called Saveur. Satoru introduces Takako to people her own age, two employees named Tomo and Takano. Takako enjoys her time with them and is impressed by her uncle’s many connections in the community.

As they walk home, Takako decides her uncle is not as odd as she thought. She asks him what he did at her age and Satoru explains that he travelled the world, looking for a place to belong. After many long journeys, he realized that the best place for him was the Morisaki Bookshop, which he took over from his father. When Takako then asks why his wife, Momoko, left him five years prior, he explains that he does not know, but still loves her. That night, Takako cannot sleep and begins reading. She reads until dawn. From that day forward, Takako reads as much as she can, stops oversleeping, and begins to heal, interacting with Satoru and others more often.

Takako begins going to Saveur regularly and becomes friends with Tomo, another avid reader. She also befriends Takano, who loves Tomo and asks for Takako’s help in wooing her. When Tomo invites Takako to the Kanda Used Book Festival in the neighborhood, she agrees and coordinates it so that Takano runs into them. They spend all day perusing bookstores, and Takako enjoys seeing Tomo and Takano have fun together.

On the last night of the festival, Takako and Satoru close the Morisaki Bookshop and throw a small celebration in Takako’s room. Satoru tells Takako that she can stay forever and explains that she saved his life. When he was younger, Satoru was depressed and did not know where he belonged until Takako was born. When he saw her, he felt inspired to find himself. Takako realizes that she loves the bookshop, but that if she is to continue growing, she must leave.

A few days into the new year, Takako receives a voicemail from Hideaki, asking her out to dinner. She deletes it, but Satoru notices that something is bothering her. She explains her situation with Hideaki, and Satoru suggests she confront him so she can move on. They go to Hideaki’s apartment in the middle of the night, but Hideaki will not take any responsibility. When his fiancée appears, Hideaki still refuses to acknowledge her feelings. Nevertheless, Takako feels a new confidence.

Takako finally makes plans to leave the bookshop. Hideaki’s fiancée meets with her and apologizes, saying the wedding is off. When Takako tries to apologize, the woman tells her it is not her fault. Satoru agrees that Takako holds no blame and pleads with her to stay. Takako must move on, and she walks away from the store with tears of joy in her eyes.

A year and a half after she leaves, Takako returns to the Morisaki Bookshop to see her aunt, Momoko, who has returned. Satoru told her that Momoko reappeared with no explanation and is now living in the room Takako once inhabited. Takako feels protective of her uncle, and when he asks her to find out why Momoko left years ago, Takako agrees.

Inside the shop, Momoko reminisces about Takako as a child and shares how she and Satoru met in Paris. Takako can see that Satoru is uncomfortable, but also sees a certain camaraderie between them, making them a good couple. When Takako leaves the bookshop that night, she stops in Saveur, and begins talking to a man named Wada. They connect over their shared love of reading. Takako is surprised by how easy it is to talk with him. Wada reveals that he and his girlfriend also recently broke up.

Over the coming weeks, Takako spends time with Momoko, who will not answer any of Takako’s prying questions, though she does reveal that she was with a man before Satoru in Paris. When the man revealed that he had a family, she left him. Takako also continues visiting Saveur to see Wada. They enjoy each other’s company but never exchange numbers, confident they will see each other again. When Momoko invites Takako to take a hiking trip with her in the mountains, Takako is suspicious at first but agrees.

Right before the trip, Takako meets Wada at Saveur, but notices that he is in a strange mood. He reveals that he waits in Saveur for his ex-girlfriend. When they broke up, he told her that if she changes her mind she can find him there. Now, she says that his waiting is creepy and Wada is upset. Takako, who was interested in Wada, is disappointed, and leaves in a rush, leaving her book behind.

Takako and Momoko hike all the way up to their inn, the highest on the mountain. When they arrive, Takako notices that Momoko and the inn keeper are familiar. Momoko explains that when she initially left Satoru, she came to this inn. Momoko and Takako go to a shrine, where Momoko explains that shrines are places to express gratitude, and not to pray for wants. That night, Takako cannot sleep, and without her book, cannot distract herself. She takes a walk to the shrine with one of the employees, who tells Takako that Momoko is much happier now than she was years ago.

During their next hike, Momoko walks briskly. The trail is difficult and Takako, out of shape, struggles. Takako compliments Momoko for being in shape, but Momoko laughs it off, saying “I’m sick, And pretty soon I’ll start to fall apart” (125). When Takako asks what she means, Momoko ignores her questions and resumes the hike. At the peak, Momoko reveals that when she was with her Parisian lover, she became pregnant, but because of his family, decided to have an abortion. Then, years later, her baby with Satoru was stillborn. The sadness from the loss was too much for Momoko. She left Satoru, believing it was not fair to him.

The night before they leave, Takako asks Momoko how she is sick. Momoko reveals that she needed her uterus removed, and she had a dream about Satoru while she was recuperating, which inspired her return. Momoko then swears Takako to secrecy. Two days later, Satoru tells Takako that Momoko left again. Takako rushes to the bookshop and encourages Satoru to chase after his wife. Days later, Takako returns to Saveur to find Wada waiting with her book. He returns it and tells her how much he enjoys seeing her. Takako finds herself happy and excited to spend time with him again.

Satoru finds Momoko at a nearby temple that once hosted a memorial service for their child. The two are finally honest with each other, and Momoko promises to return after a year away. A year later, she does return, and Takako visits the Morisaki Bookshop. There, Sabu, Momoko, and Satoru tease her about her new boyfriend, Wada, before Takako and Momoko go out shopping for dinner.