I Visited the Ishikawa Prefectural Library (Kanazawa)!! ~A Paradise for Book Lovers~
Last week, I finally visited the Ishikawa Prefectural Library (Kanazawa)!!
It's a place every library enthusiast wants to visit at least once.
I had a work trip to Kanazawa, so I figured I might as well arrive a day early and spend a whole half-day enjoying it.
Wow, it was seriously amazing!
I honestly want to live here!
What is the Ishikawa Prefectural Library?
In short, it's a massive library.
It has a collection of 1 million books!
The interior is an open-plan space that feels like one giant hall,
and the ceilings are incredibly high and beautiful.
There are tons of reading seats, all equipped with power outlets and Wi-Fi.
Being surrounded by books and able to relax... I was just so moved!
Just last month, it was featured on the NHK documentary program '72 Hours'.
Watching that was actually what inspired me to go this time.
Wow, that looks nice.
Come to think of it, I'm going to Kanazawa soon.
But I don't have time to stop by, what a shame...
Wait, hold on...
What if I arrive a day early?
No way, would I really go that far?
As I asked myself that, I decided to go for it, following my personal rule of
when in doubt, choose the more interesting option
.
I was so excited that I woke up at 5:00 AM lol
I caught a train just after 6:00 AM and arrived about an hour earlier than planned!
It's about a 30-minute bus ride from Kanazawa Station.
I finally made it.
It's time to go inside!
The interior is a paradise for book lovers!
When you go inside, the whole place is a super huge circle.
Curves are used abundantly,
and the walkways that follow the circle are sloped, so you naturally go up and down.
It's fun how you lose your sense of direction and feel a bit lost.
The whole place is built like a hall, with an atrium ceiling that feels infinitely high,
and moving up and down to the fourth floor via escalators and stairs while looking out over the library is fun!
The reading seats are super luxurious!
There are many different types of reading seats, and they are all available.
Table seats surrounding the circular atrium
Semi-private booth seats that can be used without a reservation (I used these)
Sofas (in various shapes and colors)
Large table seats
It is a wonderful space
where you can relax so much that you'll want to stay for a whole day, or even for days on end.
It's a lovely space.
I was so excited that I forgot to take pictures.
The themed bookshelves create exciting encounters with books.
When you think of library bookshelves,
you imagine shelves arranged in the order of the Nippon Decimal Classification (NDC) numbers,
but the main shelves here, which circle the atrium, are arranged by theme.
Thinking about work, or
thinking about life, and so on.
The upper shelves display the covers of the books,
so it feels like you're browsing in a bookstore.
Just walking around and looking at them makes you want to read one after another.
Of course, there are also shelves where book spines are lined up normally.
Behind the circular bookshelves, there is also a regular library-style bookshelf area,
and since there is a book stack, there were also people who searched for books and had them brought out.
I want to stay here for days. I want to move to Kanazawa lol
Since I only had plans for the library that day, I
enjoyed it until the very last bus.
Really, I want to stay here forever
I want to move to Kanazawa!
I'm half serious lol
People in Kanazawa are truly lucky.
If there were a library like this nearby, ideas would just keep popping up~!
And so, it became night (laughs).
I want to go again~
Work in Kanazawa, you are welcome!!
Ishikawa Prefectural Library Official Page
Wikipedia
Addendum (link)
Detailed report by a former librarian
This article was written by
Shigeki Kawahara, a "Future Realization Partner" who increases revenue pillars
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