Only Kids Can Squeeze Into World’s Smallest Bookstore

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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.

“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.”

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.

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.

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.