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By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer The bookshop “tiny tiny bookstore” is certified by World Guinness Records as the smallest in the world. It is located in the “coco no mori” woods, which Sowa Delight, an electrical company, has opened to visitors in Maebashi.
By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer
16:06 JST, September 22, 2024
MAEBASHI — A bookstore that was recognized by Guinness World Records as the smallest in the world last December is located in a woodland on the premises of an electrical company in Maebashi.
The store is called “tiny tiny bookstore” and has a floor space of 1.246 square meters. Only small children can physically enter the bookstore.
By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer The bookstore is equipped with solar lighting called Little Sun.
“When children try to buy a book, adults sometimes interfere and end up taking away their interest,” said Shingo Watanabe, the president of Sowa Delight, the company that operates the store. “I thought, ‘Well, let’s make a bookstore that adults can’t enter.’”
He launched the bookstore last September, only to find that it is the smallest in the world.
“Books are a symbol of wisdom that humanity all over the world has accumulated,” said Watanabe, 48, adding, “I want to place importance on letting children choose books by themselves.”
By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer A Sowa Delight meeting room is located in a greenhouse in the woods. The room evokes the era before electricity.
The store stocks about 300 books, each selected with the hope that children will imagine that even the smallest microbe is part of an ecosystem that is connected to the universe. Watanabe strongly believes that an encounter with a single book can change a child’s life, regardless of the size of the bookstore.
By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer Trampolines set up in the woods are popular with children.
The bookstore was built using wood from an over-500-year-old Japanese cedar from Miyosawa-Akagi Shrine in the city. It is equipped with solar lighting called Little Sun, a product developed with the hope of preventing global warming.
The store is located in a woodland called “coco no mori,” which is open to visitors. Committed to addressing local issues, the company created the woods as part of its process to pursue a model of symbiosis between the Earth, people and electricity. Children can interact with a horse, donkeys and goats, as well as play freely on the hammocks and trampolines located near the shop.
By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer A child pets a donkey at the facility.
The bookshop is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays. When buying a book, customers need to ring a bell to call a company employee. Only cash is accepted.
