Bookshops are vanishing across Japan, with one industry estimate claiming the number has fallen by almost a third in the last decade, hit by a combination of a falling population and the spread of the internet.
Some voices have been raised in protest, such as by residents of towns arguing that bookstores are needed for a lively urban environment, but customer numbers continue to fall. And that means that to survive, operators need to exercise ingenuity.
Takashima Shobo, a bookstore with a 72-year history in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, is a case in point.