Kinokuniya, Japan's largest bookstore chain, announced that it will be opening a newly expanded and refurbished foreign books section in its Shinjuku South store, one of the company's two flagship locations in Tokyo. The section, opening May 29, will occupy an entire floor, and at 1,000 square meters will be one of the largest foreign book sections in Japan.
In its new capacity, the section, branded as "Books Kinokuniya Tokyo," will, per Kinokuniya, "meet the needs" of a city which is becoming more "international than ever" approaching the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The new design will double the store's stock of international titles, reaching 120,000 copies, with an emphasis on fiction, children's, foreign magazines, non-English foreign titles, and comics. The space will also offer additional activities, including English storytelling events and talks by international authors.
Kinokuniya currently has 64 stores and 70 campus bookstores in Japan, and operates 26 overseas stores in the U.S., Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Australia and Dubai.
