Jimbōchō is a compact district in Chiyoda where over 170 bookshops line a few blocks of Yasukuni-dori. The shops range from general secondhand stores to dealers specializing in art books, manga, maps, woodblock prints, sporting books, academic texts, and foreign-language literature. It is the densest concentration of secondhand books anywhere in the world.
Even without Japanese, Jimbōchō is worth visiting for the woodblock prints, vintage maps, and illustrated art books that spill onto the pavement outside many shops. Komiyama Shoten is the most respected dealer in rare art and photography books, while Isseido Bookstore, trading since 1903, is one of the oldest shops in the district. The neighbourhood also has excellent coffee shops and a long-running student-curry institution in Kitchen Nankai, which has fed book browsers and Meiji University students since the 1960s.