[Japan] I felt happy to be born in a city with books

"By the way, a library was built in front of the station! It even has a Hiroshima history corner."

Oh, finally! I had heard that a large library would be moving into the department store in front of the station that has been there since I was a student, but it's finally done!

So, I went there right away.

A really beautiful and large city library had been built!

From the 8th to the 10th floor of the Yell Yell Building A in front of Hiroshima Station, three whole floors were dedicated to the library!!

The 8th floor has everything from baby picture books to children's books, history books, and biographies. It's lined with books you'd expect to find in an elementary school library. There's even a space where babies can roll around, which I'm jealous of! I wish we had this when my kids were little!!

The 9th floor is the Hiroshima corner. It features shelves with magazines and newspaper articles about local museums and the city's professional teams—Sanfrecce Hiroshima (soccer), Hiroshima Toyo Carp (baseball), Dragonflies (basketball), and the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra—as well as many materials related to Hiroshima, such as books and picture books about the atomic bomb and regional research reports. Because there are many valuable materials, eating and drinking are strictly prohibited on this floor only.

The 10th floor houses general paperbacks, novels, magazines, and books in multiple languages. I was surprised to see that there is also a space for reserved books, making it a very efficient and convenient system.

Every floor has reading spaces, self-study areas, and rooms that can be used by groups, and by evening, they are full of students. I even saw students who seemed to be there with their teachers, so they might be coming for school research projects.

Wow, this is a wonderful place to be.
If I lived nearby, I'd end up going there all the time. Of course, I want to read books, but I thought it was the perfect place to bring a notebook and pen to organize information.

Speaking of cool city libraries

The city library I've always wanted to visit is the Takeo City Library in Saga Prefecture. I've only seen it in photos, but I've always admired its beautiful design and how it serves as a place for the local people.

The Shunan City Tokuyama Station Front Library in Yamaguchi Prefecture was also great. I've been there a few times, and I remember feeling that it was a very stylish and beautiful library inside a building in front of the station, and I wanted to stay for a long time and felt it was a good place for students to be.

Even compared to these two libraries, I think the newly built Hiroshima City Central Library is of a very high standard. With its flow for borrowing and returning, the reservation system for study rooms, and the abundance of seats for reading, it is a luxuriously designed library. Way to go, Hiroshima!

City libraries shape the people of the city in the future

I believe that the places in a city where you can encounter knowledge shape the residents of that city in the future. I think we are in a transitional period where not only libraries but also art museums, museums, and sports facilities that have been in the city for a long time are being renewed or having their operations changed, but I still think it is very important how local governments decide to leave these public facilities for residents.

The fact that there is a place nearby where you can easily encounter a lot of knowledge seems to be directly linked to what kind of knowledgeable residents the people of that city will become.

After all, in our day, we might have occasionally studied while chatting in a food court, but students from now on can learn and talk in the study spaces of this beautiful library full of materials, right?!

That is why I am happy that my hometown has built a new central library in this way, and thinking about the children who will grow up in such a place makes me look forward to the future of Hiroshima a little bit.

I'm so happy.
It makes me want to live in Hiroshima again!