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When I first came to Osaka the first thing I found out was where to find English books. Most book even very big ones only sold Japanese books and maybe the odd imported US magazine (Cosmo, anyone?).
There are two bookstores I recommend, one is Junkudo and one is Kinokuniya. Kinokuniya is the shop that is beside the recommended meeting point Big Man while Junkudo is in Dojima in a big building called Avanza.
Of the two, Junkudo has a better range of books especially design and IT-related books, and is definitely more relaxed. You can take a book and sit in the book reading areas and skim through books. Kinokuniya is convenient (meeting point). Price-wise they are about the same, which means books are a little more expensive than I’m used to.
Because Junkudo might be a little hard to find by foot, I’ll add a map below:
4 responses so far ↓
1 Janne // Jun 6, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Junkudo also has a big three-story shop in Namba. From Bic Camera, just go south until you get to Doguyasuji (kitchen street) and it’s right there on the right. Don’t forget to grab some takoyaki on the way!
2 Ian Cheung // Jun 7, 2007 at 9:38 am
Yes indeed. I know about that Junkudo but I wasn’t sure if they had non-Japanese books.
As well as the takoyaki you’ll also see the famous NGK theatre home to Yoshimoto and its comedians.
3 Janne // Jun 7, 2007 at 10:30 am
The Namba Junkudo has a fair amount of English-language books (by Japanese book store standards). More importantly, they are great on Japanese learning books, dictionaries, language test training materials and such, more than I have seen anywhere else.
4 Ian Cheung // Jun 13, 2007 at 10:00 am
thanks for the info, I think I need to pay Namba Junkudo a visit to pick up some Japanese learning material.
I went to the Junkudo that is in the Hilton Plaza (in Umeda) but there’s nothing much in terms of non-Japanese books.
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