Hiromitsu Kitada (literary concierge), manager of Umeda Tsutaya Bookstore, edited and published "The Future and Shape of Bookstores - To Create New Readers" on Friday, February 16th.

2024.01.16 Press Releases
Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd.

- Packed with ideas to make bookstores more exciting in the future! Talk events will be held at six locations across the country, where key figures from inside and outside the industry will discuss "the future and shape of bookstores" -

Hiromitsu Kitada, manager and literary concierge of Umeda Tsutaya Bookstore, operated by Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd. (Head office: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President and COO: Takahashi Yoshinori; hereinafter referred to as "CCC"), has published his first book in eight years, "The Future and Shape of Bookstores: Creating New Readers" (PHP Institute). The book will be available in bookstores nationwide from Friday, February 16, 2024.

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More details here:https://store.tsite.jp/portal/blog/humanities/38186-1754400109.html

"The Future and Shape of Bookstores - Creating New Readers" is a book that explores the future possibilities of bookstores through the activities of people who are communicating the appeal of books from various angles, as well as examples of revival in other industries. The magazine features interviews with former high school Japanese language teacher Takashi Kato and novel introduction creator Kengo, who are working to create future readers by broadly defining "booksellers" as not just "bookstore employees" but anyone who "communicates the appeal of books."

Recently, the media has been reporting more and more negative news about books, such as young people turning away from reading and the decline in the number of bookstores. However, at the same time, the enthusiasm of people who love books and bookstores continues to grow, with unique independent bookstores opening up all over the country and magazines publishing "bookstore specials" several times a year.

The purpose of publishing this book is to revitalize the publishing industry by "creating a new readership."To do this, we need to focus on people who don't normally read books or who don't have the habit of visiting bookstores, and think about how to turn these people into customers. As a concrete method, we will interview not only experts within the publishing industry, but also people outside the publishing industry who are deeply involved with books. In this way, we aim to clarify solutions that have not been mentioned in previous ``Bookstore Books'' and to encourage readers themselves to ``communicate the appeal of books'' within their own sphere of activity.

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■Author Profile 
Hiromitsu Kitada, Umeda Tsutaya Bookstore Manager and Literary Concierge

After graduating from university, he joined a publishing distribution company and in 2013 launched Marunouchi Reading Style, a bookstore, general goods store and cafe complex, and has since served as manager at various Reading Style stores. In 2016, he founded the one-man publishing company Shoshi Kisuiiki (https://kisuiiki.com/), where he publishes literary works that will be read for a long time to come. In 2016, he joined Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd. He currently serves as the manager of Umeda Tsutaya Bookstore while continuing his work as a publisher. In 2020, we planned and held the Futakotamagawa Book Fair, a bookstore festival that combined books, music, and food, which attracted 33,000 visitors over two days. His books include "The Future of Bookstores" (Shoshi Kisuiiki), "The Unknown Guide to Dream Bookstores" (Asahi Publishing), which he co-edited, and "Creating Bookstore Jobs" (Sekai Shiso Sha), which he co-authored.  


To commemorate the publication of this work, we will be inviting key figures from both inside and outside the publishing and bookstore industries to hold talk events at six bookstores across the country to discuss the future and shape of bookstores. Please join us.

・February 17, 2024 (Sat) 15:00-17:00
Talk topic: For those who want to start a bookstore!  
Venue: Nara Tsutaya Bookstore 

For more details, click here:https://store.tsite.jp/nara/event/shop/38005-1747371227.html

We will be inviting Takashi Sesako, who launched "Page Pharmacy" by combining pharmacy and books, and Masataka Yoshida (Rakuten Books Network), who has launched "Foyer," a business that wholesales books even for purchases of just one copy, to share their know-how on opening a bookstore.  

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(Left) Takashi Sesako (Right) Masataka Yoshida

・February 21, 2024 (Wednesday) 18:00-20:00  
 Venue: Daikanyama T-Site

For more details, click here:https://store.tsite.jp/daikanyama/event/humanities/37863-1746021219.html

◎Part 1 (18:00-18:30) 
Talk theme: Creating new readers
Author Hiromitsu Kitada and Motoo Okada, humanities concierge at Daikanyama T-Site Bookstore, will discuss the book's theme, "What can we do to create new readers?"

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(Left) Hiromitsu Kitada (Umeda Tsutaya Books) (Right) Motoo Okada (Daikanyama Tsutaya Books)

◎Part 2 (18:40-19:40)
Talk topic: Three people who have conveyed the joy of books to people who don't read books
Regarding the video introduction technique used by novel introduction creator Kengo, featured in Chapter 2 of this book, former Village Vanguard members Nanako Hanada (Kani Books) and Yuki Kasukawa (Ika Bunko) say, "This is exactly the Village Vanguard POP method!" and "Kengo's thinking is very similar to what Village Vanguard was like back then."We will hear from all three about their shared passion for finding ways to convey the joy of books to people who don't read, and consider what can be done to increase the number of new readers in the future.

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(Left) Kengo, (center) Nanako Hanada, (right) Yuki Kasukawa

Q&A (19:40-20:00) 
All speakers from Part 1 and Part 2 will be on stage.  

・February 22, 2024 (Thursday) 19:00-20:30 
Talk theme: Making the "future bookstore" more interesting 
Venue: Roppongi Tsutaya Bookstore 

For more details, click here:https://store.tsite.jp/roppongi/event/shop/38040-1935171229.html

The days when bookstores were simply places to sell books are over, and now there are many different types of bookstores. While bookstore closures are reported negatively in online news, unprecedented and unique bookstores are opening one after another and are gaining widespread support from customers, so it seems that the future of bookstores will continue to be exciting.  
We have invited three people who were involved in this book, Kazuki Ariji (YOURS BOOK STORE), Shintaro Uchinuma (NUMABOOKS), and Mikito Taguchi (Future Reading Institute), along with the author, Hiromitsu Kitada, to talk about how we can make the "bookstores of the future" more interesting, based on their respective knowledge and experience.

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(Left) Kazuki Ariji (Center) Shintaro Uchinuma (Right) Mikito Taguchi

・February 23, 2024 (Friday/Holiday) 19:00-20:30
Venue: TOUTEN BOOKSTORE (Nagoya)

For more details, click here: https://www.touten-bookstore.net/s/stories/24223-24225

The two people who participate in the roundtable discussion in this book, Aoyama Book Center manager Yamashita Yu and author Kitada Hiromitsu, talk freely about the place and job possibilities of bookstores, what bookstores will be like in the near future, and even what bookstores will be like in the future. The interviewer is Shihoko Koga, owner of TOUTEN BOOKSTORE, who worked as a bookstore salesperson at a publishing distributor before going independent and opening a new book store in Kanayama, Nagoya, where you can also get coffee and beer.

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(Left) Masaru Yamashita (Right) Shihoko Koga

・February 24, 2024 (Sat) 16:00-18:30
Talk theme: Thinking about the future and shape of bookstores 
Venue: Umeda Tsutaya Bookstore Share Lounge (Sky Area) 

For more details, click here: https://store.tsite.jp/umeda/event/business/37693-1824231210.html

What will the bookstore of the future look like? When imagining the answer to this question, some wild, near-future fantasy might come to mind, but if you think of the future as an extension of the present, and as being connected to it, there's no other way to think about it than from where we are now. We will invite four booksellers currently working at the forefront of bookstores to talk about the future of bookstores and their possibilities.  

◎Part 1 (16:00-17:00) 
Norio Hasegawa (Manager of Kinokuniya Bookstore Umeda Main Branch)
Osamu Horiuchi (Manager of Junkudo Sannomiya Store)
Hiromitsu Kitada (Manager of Umeda Tsutaya Bookstore)
*Interviewer: Masanari Kaneda (PHP Institute)

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(Left) Norio Hasegawa (Right) Osamu Horiuchi

◎Part 2 (17:15-18:15) 
Ogaki Moriyoshi (General Manager of Contents Division, Ogaki Bookstore)
Yu Yamashita (Manager of Aoyama Book Center Main Branch)
*Interviewer: Hiromitsu Kitada

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(Left) Mr. Moriyoshi Ogaki (Right) Mr. Masaru Yamashita

Q&A (18:15-18:30) 
All speakers from Part 1 and Part 2 will be on stage.  

・March 2, 2024 (Sat) 19:00~21:00
Venue: B&B Bookstore (Shimokitazawa, Tokyo)

For more details, click here:https://bb240302a.peatix.com/

The venue was Bookstore B&B, a new book store in Shimokitazawa that combines books, beer, and events.
To commemorate the publication of "The Future and Shape of Bookstores," we will be welcoming guests Uchinuma Shintaro, the owner of the B&B bookstore, Matsumura Takahiro of NUMABOOKS, and Matsui Yusuke of H.A.B., who will talk with author Kitada Hiromitsu about "what we are thinking about bookstores right now."Don't miss this special talk by four people who have experience working in the three fields of distribution, publishing, and booksellers!

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(Left) Shintaro Uchinuma, (center) Yusuke Matsui, (right) Takahiro Matsumura
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■Book overview
Book title: The future and shape of bookstores - To create new readers -
Author: Hiromitsu Kitada
Publisher: PHP Institute
Specifications: 46 standard size (finished size 188 x 128 mm) right-hand opening 
Price: 1,870 yen (tax included)
Release date: Friday, February 16, 2024
ISBN: 9784569856353 

<Table of Contents> 
Chapter 1: Who is a bookseller?  
 Interview: Ren Serizawa (Collexia) 

Chapter 2: Creating an entry point to books 
Section 1: Are high school Japanese language teachers booksellers?  
 Interview: Takashi Kato (former high school Japanese language teacher) 
 Column: Mikito Taguchi (Future Reading Institute) "For future readers" 

Section 2: Are TikTokers Bookstores?  
 Interview: Kengo (Novel Introduction Creator) 
 Column: Yuki Kasukawa (Ika Bunko) "Bookstores and Things" 

Chapter 3: Learning from other industries 
Section 1: Learning from other industries how to create new customers 
 Interview: Takashi Sesako (Page Pharmacy) 
 Column: Shintaro Uchinuma (numabooks) "Books x XX is the royal road"

Section 2: The V-shaped recovery of the professional wrestling industry and the future of bookstores 
 Interview: Sanshiro Takagi (CyberFight) 
 Column: Hiroyuki Inoo (Ino Bookstore) "What Inoo Bookstore Learned from DDT" 

Chapter 4: Creating new readers 
Roundtable discussion: Kazuki Ariji (Nippon Shuppan Hanbai), Nanako Hanada (Kani Books), Moeno Morimoto (MISSION ROMANTIC), Yu Yamashita (Aoyama Book Center)

■Stores that carry this product 
This book is available at the following Tsutaya Bookstores, TSUTAYA BOOKSTORE, TSUTAYA, as well as bookstores and online bookstores nationwide.
 
Hakodate Tsutaya Bookstore / Kashiwanoha Tsutaya Bookstore / Urawa Tsutaya Bookstore / Shonan Tsutaya Bookstore / Ginza Tsutaya Bookstore / 
Roppongi Tsutaya Bookstore / Nakameguro Tsutaya Bookstore / Daikanyama Tsutaya Bookstore / Futako Tamagawa Tsutaya Electrics / Nagoya Minato Tsutaya Bookstore
Nara Tsutaya Bookstore / Kyoto Okazaki Tsutaya Bookstore / Kyoto Tsutaya Bookstore / Hirakata Tsutaya Bookstore / Umeda Tsutaya Bookstore / 
Kochi Tsutaya Bookstore / Hiroshima Tsutaya Bookstore / Ropponmatsu Tsutaya Bookstore / TSUTAYA BOOKSTORE LaLaport EXPOCITY
TSUTAYA Sangenjaya store / TSUTAYA Tateyama store / Big One TSUTAYA Sakura store / TSUTAYA Fujieda Seto Araya store
TSUTAYA Josai store

Online store: https://store.tsite.jp/item-detail/humanities/38402.html

Materials related to this matter

Hiromitsu Kitada (literary concierge), manager of Umeda Tsutaya Bookstore, edited and published "The Future and Shape of Bookstores - To Create New Readers" on Friday, February 16th.

Inquiries regarding this matter
Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd. Public Relations Office　
TEL 03-6800-4764 Mail: inquiry@ccc.co.jp

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