curation

The decline of physical bookstores is a common problem worldwide, but is especially severe in Japan due to a rapid aging population. As an avid reader, who always dashes to the nearby bookstore wherever I visit to check out content people care about, I am keen to learn any new business solutions in this area. In this post, let’s take a look at some of the innovative things Japanese booksellers are doing in this headwind....

Mental distraction from information/choice overload is a common problem worldwide. Having an anchor for our taste and what we are meant to do provides a more stable path without being easily swayed by cyclical trends that are just like seasonal wind. But is good taste innate or honed by practice? In this post, we’ll look at Matsuura Yataro, who is a renowned lifestyle essayist and ex-chief editor of Kurashi no Techo (Notes on everyday living), a magazine dedicated to promoting aesthetics in living well....

In this digital era, what values can physical bookstores still offer? In this post, we’ll look at the Japanese cultural mecca Tsutaya Daikanyama T-Site, which started a revolutionary wave of curated spaces promoting idea exchange, lifestyle exploration and rural revitalization. Its central promise is that visitors can enrich what they already know, and find some new hobbies at the same time. We’ll also look at how the company behind Tsutaya...