Byline: Tokyo
I’ve changed my mind. (Changed from an earlier blog.) There are sacred places of commerce in Tokyo. The first of several places is in the photo on the right.
The photo is shot from a pedestrian overpass in Shinjuku. The main buildings in the center are the Takashimaya Department Store which is connected by a pedestrian bridge at the seventh floor to the Kinokuniya Bookstore. In the background is the faux Empire State Building occupied by NTT. This is unrelated to the sacred buildings.
Japan is ahead of the rest of the world in many aspects of commerce. Commerce moves in only one direction: toward more for the consumer. Japan has more types of market items than any society on the planet. Inside the Takashimaya Department Store is Tokyu Hands. Tokyu Hands is eight floors with more items of hobbies, hardware and miscellany than any human who hasn’t been there can imagine. Takashimaya itself is fourteen floors of more market items than can be found in any shopping mall in America. There are two floors of restaurants on the top with more than a dozen different cuisines. There are two floors of food in the basement.
Kinokuniya is seven floors of books and magazines. In the book business we don’t talk about market items, we talk about titles. Kinokuniya has more titles than any commercial location on the planet.
These buildings are a sacred space in the world of commerce. Someday, when more people appreciate commerce, the importance of this location will be appropriately recognized.
The photo has a very commercial quality to it. There is construction going on in the foreground. Commerce never stops changing -- construction is the lifeblood of commerce.