_valerian

Genkido is a wonderful bookstore in the Kanda/Jimbocho/Ochanomizu part of Tokyo. It is so wonderful in fact, I do not allow myself to go there very often, lest there be a few more photo books added to my collection. Anyone with an interest in photography books and some yen in their pocket may find it hard to leave without a book or two. Or three or four.
It is their Photographic Monograph selection that makes it worth stopping by for, with a lot of stuff that you are not going to find at your local Book Off or Barnes & Nobel. The books are about 50/50  Japanese and Western and priced very, very well.  The Japanese books are at least half of what you would pay abroad (and usually cheaper than what they cost new), and the western books are not too much more that they might be in the country of their publication.

After my visit yesterday I walked to the Maruzen Book Center in Marunouchi and flipped through the Photography section on the foreign book floor. This is where I realized just how spoiled one can get by the Japanese Publishing industry in terms of printing quality and price.

How to get to Genkido:
From Shin-Ochanomizu subway station: Exit out the B7 exit, and walk straight down Yasukuni-dori. On your left you will pass a Kodak photo shop, and soon you’ll find a Starbucks on a corner. Below is the view from the Starbucks. Cross the street and you are there.