Days at the Morisaki Bookshop

Don’t be afraid to love someone. When you fall in love, I want you to fall in love all the way. Even if it ends in heartache, please don’t live a lonely life without love. I’ve been so worried that because of what happened you’ll give up on falling in love. Love is wonderful. I don’t want you to forget that. Those memories of people you love, they never disappear. They go on warming your heart as long as you live. When you get old like me, you’ll understand.

It’s funny. No matter where you go, or how many books you read, you still know nothing, you haven’t seen anything. And that’s life.

I don’t think it really matters whether you know a lot about books or not. That said, I don’t know that much myself. But I think what matters far more with a book is how it affects you.

... maybe it takes a long time to figure out what you're truly searching for. Maybe you spend your whole life just to figure out a small part of it." "I don't know. I think maybe I've been wasting my time, just doing nothing." "I don't think so. It's important to stand still sometimes. Think of it as a little rest in the long journey of your life. This is your harbor. And your boat is just dropping anchor here for a little while. And after you're well rested, you can set sail again.

I wanted to see the whole world for myself. I wanted to see the whole range of possibilities. Your life is yours. It doesn't belong to anyone else. I wanted to know what it would mean to live life on my own terms.

It's important to stand still sometimes. Think of it as a little rest in the long journey of your life. This is your harbor. And your boat is just dropping anchor here for a little while. And after you're well rested, you can set sail again.

I had too many ideals and ambitions for one person, and because of that, I ended up without a single one I could hold on to.

No matter where I went, no matter who I was with, if I could be honest with myself, then that was where I belonged.

in those days, I really was like a butterfly waiting patiently to come out of its chrysalis. As I turned page after page, I was waiting for my chance to take flight.

The act of seeing is no small thing. To see something is to be possesses by it. Sometimes it carries off a part of you, sometimes it's your whole soul.' (Landscapes of the Heart by Motojiro Kajii)

No matter how much time passed, the sadness never went away. I was carrying this feeling around—like there was a gaping hole left open inside me. And instead of disappearing, the emptiness inside me seemed to grow day by day.

It's only in secondhand books that you can savor encounters like this, connections that transcend time. And that's how I learned to love the secondhand bookstore that handled these books, our Morisaki Bookshop. I realized how precious a chance I'd been given, to be part of that little place, where you can feel the quiet flow of time.

She and I have the same way of looking at things. It’s what brought us together, and I think it’s also the reason we split up. We met in the middle of the journey and we fell in love. But that doesn’t mean we’ll always be traveling together. At some point, everyone has to find their safe harbor. I’d always thought we’d make it to the end together. Unfortunately, that’s not how it turned out.

Who on earth played this cruel trick on me? The culprit, of course, was me.

It was as if, without realizing it, I had opened a door I had never known existed. That’s exactly what it felt like. From that moment on, I read relentlessly, one book after another. It was as if a love of reading had been sleeping somewhere deep inside me all this time, and then it suddenly sprang to life.

That’s when I finally realized it wasn’t just a question of where I was. It was about something inside me. No matter where I went, no matter who I was with, if I could be honest with myself, then that was where I belonged.

But, I don’t know, maybe it takes a long time to figure out what you’re truly searching for. Maybe you spend your whole life just to figure out a small part of it.

Another time, I happened to find a pressed flower someone had left as a bookmark. As I inhaled the scent of the long-ago-faded flower, I wondered about the person who had put it there. Who in the world was she? When did she live? What was she feeling? It’s only in secondhand books that you can savor encounters like this, connections that transcend time.

Day by day, the leaves of the trees along the streets turned to gold. It delighted me to see how well the changing colors matched the slow transformation happening inside me.

And yet for all I read, I found book after book that I still wanted to read. I’d never experienced anything like this before. It made me feel like I had been wasting my life until this moment. I decided to stop sleeping all the time. It no longer seemed necessary. Instead of taking refuge in sleep after my uncle took over for me at the bookshop, I went to my room or to a café to read.

I think what matters far more with a book is how it affects you.

Maybe it takes a long time to figure out what you're truly searching for. Maybe you spend your whole life just to figure out a small part of it.

When I looked up, I saw the nearly full moon, missing just a sliver on the left, floating in the night sky.

And the sky felt unbelievably close. So endless and clear. If I stared at it too long, I felt like it might swallow me whole.

It’s important to stand still sometimes. Think of it as a little rest in the long journey of your life. This is your harbor. And your boat is just dropping anchor here for a little while. And after you’re well rested, you can set sail again.

Không đơn giản là chuyện ở đâu, mà là chuyện của con tim. Dù ở đâu hay ở với ai, chỉ cần có thể thành thật với trái tim thì đó sẽ là nơi dành cho mình.

This is where I finally realized that even though we call them all “bookstores,” each store has its own totally distinct flavor.