Days at the Morisaki Bookshop

Satoshi Yagisawa was born in 1977 in Japan. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is Yagisawa’s debut novel and has enjoyed commercial success both in Japan and in the US. The novel earned Yagisawa international attention: “[The novel] won the Chiyoda Literature Prize in 2008 and became a massive hit in Japan. It was as impressive a debut as an author could ask for, selling more than 100,000 copies and receiving a film adaptation not long after” (Margolis, Eric. “Satoshi Yagisawa’s Novel Has All the Charm of a Jimbocho Bookshop.” The Japan Times, 19 Aug. 2023). The novel has been published in more than 20 countries to date. In 2024 the English translation was shortlisted for the British Book Award Debut Book of the Year. 

Yagisawa’s work has been praised for his ability to convey meaningful emotional and personal growth in his characters, and for his recreation of the atmosphere of a bookshop. Much of the novel takes place in the Morisaki Bookshop, and Yagisawa’s discussion of different books and the cast of characters that come to shop all evoke a classic used bookstore. The story that starts in Days of the Morisaki Bookshop continues in its 2011 sequel, More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop.