3 ms·

I don't think Japan is any different than the USA here. If you go look at paperback novels in the USA they are 95% all the same width and height, only the thick

I don't think Japan is any different than the USA here. If you go look at paperback novels in the USA they are 95% all the same width and height, only the thickness changes. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-stack-of-science-fiction-paperback-books-28029500.html https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-stack-of-science-fiction-p... Conversely there are plenty of randomly sized books at a Japanese bookstore. I can go walk to some today and take pictures if you don't believe me. It's possible the USA is 50% standard sizes and Japan is 70% but it's definitely not close to all of them. Even in the USA many hardbacks are a standard size. At most they are off by an inch so that you can get by with certain sized shelves and have on extra shelf for really odd sizes.

jbay808 6y ago
From my experience they're a world apart, but your mileage may vary. You can also tell just by doing image searches for "Japanese bookstore". Or looking at how often US bookstores shelve their books sideways. But I agree that there are exceptions in Japan (including specific shelves for oversized books, like coffee table photo albums), and in the US there are some sizes that books sometimes converge to.
- Izkata 6y ago
  So I did the search and it's totally random whether they're as you describe or as GP describes. My favorite, differing sizes on the left and uniform sizes on the right: https://img.theculturetrip.com/1440x807/smart/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/japanese-bookshop.jpg https://img.theculturetrip.com/1440x807/smart/wp-content/upl...
  - jbay808 6y ago
    I believe those are magazines on the left. (This photo appears to be Book Off, a popular second-hand bookstore chain).
michaelt 6y ago
I think Japanese bookstores look very organised partly because they stock manga - where you will routinely get ten-volume series of books (with far fewer words per page than a novel would have, of course) So while every western bookshop has that shelf full of Lonely Planet travel guides that looks really organised, in Japan you can photograph an entire aisle of books that looks just as regimented.
- jbay808 6y ago
  Western bookstores sell manga too, these days! However publishers change the format size for western audiences. Here's what it looks like when stocked here: https://s3-media2.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/W4Jp1QrsdmGXmogVT8q4hQ/348s.jpg https://s3-media2.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/W4Jp1QrsdmGXmogVT8q4... Each series is a uniform size but that's as much commonality as there is. The height and also depth of each is different. And that's starting from uniformly sized source material; Western graphic novels are even more extremely sized. (The neat shelves in the sibling comment are mostly not manga, by the way).

jbay808 6y ago

From my experience they're a world apart, but your mileage may vary. You can also tell just by doing image searches for "Japanese bookstore". Or looking at how often US bookstores shelve their books sideways. But I agree that there are exceptions in Japan (including specific shelves for oversized books, like coffee table photo albums), and in the US there are some sizes that books sometimes converge to.

Izkata 6y ago
So I did the search and it's totally random whether they're as you describe or as GP describes. My favorite, differing sizes on the left and uniform sizes on the right: https://img.theculturetrip.com/1440x807/smart/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/japanese-bookshop.jpg https://img.theculturetrip.com/1440x807/smart/wp-content/upl...
- jbay808 6y ago
  I believe those are magazines on the left. (This photo appears to be Book Off, a popular second-hand bookstore chain).

michaelt 6y ago

I think Japanese bookstores look very organised partly because they stock manga - where you will routinely get ten-volume series of books (with far fewer words per page than a novel would have, of course) So while every western bookshop has that shelf full of Lonely Planet travel guides that looks really organised, in Japan you can photograph an entire aisle of books that looks just as regimented.

jbay808 6y ago
Western bookstores sell manga too, these days! However publishers change the format size for western audiences. Here's what it looks like when stocked here: https://s3-media2.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/W4Jp1QrsdmGXmogVT8q4hQ/348s.jpg https://s3-media2.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/W4Jp1QrsdmGXmogVT8q4... Each series is a uniform size but that's as much commonality as there is. The height and also depth of each is different. And that's starting from uniformly sized source material; Western graphic novels are even more extremely sized. (The neat shelves in the sibling comment are mostly not manga, by the way).