Kinokuniya Bookstore

7/23/2015

I was blown away the first time I went to kinokuniya in SF. I had no idea there was a brick and mortar bookstore to buy books in Japanese in U.S.

True to Japanese bookstore style, books and magazines are shrink wrapped to preserve the book and encourage you to buy. I actually really like this method because I've found some books with fudge fingerprints or stolen goodies at other bookstores.

There are so many cute anime goodies and pencils and stationary here. There are a few English books. There is a wide array of other books in Japanese. The store is bright and cheery and in a mall of other Japanese shops and restaurants.

The books' prices are inflated as these items are imported, but it's cheaper than shipping. Staff are polite and helpful and speak Japanese! It's a must stop place in japan town for me. I've been to the San Jose, Los Angeles, and New York locations and I've found I like this location best as it is the largest and has a nice atmosphere and layout.

7/3/2015

It's a Japanese bookstore full of Japanese books and other trinkets. Some overlap with Western items too.

If you're looking for a white guy obsessed with Japanese things and has yellow fever (you know the losers I'm talking about), chances are you may find some here.

Get some things and head over to Sophia's Crepes next door!

6/7/2015

Came here to buy some books in order to make our Japan trip a little bit more easy in terms of helping us figure out what to do.

We first started on the bottom floor which had some sort of anime/video game girl singing songs. Let me tell me, there was actually an audience for this. Like people in seats watching this video game girl sing! Either way, I didn't have time for that, but the bottom floor does have much in the world of goodies. Plenty of manga to choose from, and brings me back to a time where I had so much free time that I could read as much manga as I wanted.

The second floor has books and magazines and the like. Even a few movies, and I picked up Ringu 0 for $5 bucks. Great deal. We bought our book and headed out afterwards, but it's always a great feeling coming here. So much to look at, but only so much time.

4/13/2015

Love, love, love this store! So does it love my wallet here!

Items are not cheap here but you can find almost anything and everything here.  I know my daughter has through the years!  Because of her love for international pop music, I had grown to love it too.  The many times we had taken her to Korean Music festival we would find the stars in magazines that you can purchase right here conveniently in this store.  They also sell books, cds and dvds, clothing and plushes besides other miscellaneous items like stationary.  You just have to walk right in and check everything out!  I know I have!

There are books, magazines, cd and dvds here that are in the Japanese language as well as others like Chinese and some English.  It's actually pretty cool as they have a pretty decent selection of stuff. It's a must see if you have never been inside Kinokuniya bookstore.  I know they also have Kinokuniya bookstores in other cities like San Jose, Seattle, Portland, New York, Costa Mesa and Los Angeles. Of course, they have their share of stores internationally as well!

This is the place to purchase anime/manga.  If you don't know what that is just google it.  I'm shocked that one doesn't know what that is as it is really part of the young pop culture nowadays!

Will I come back?  Probably, I had been eyeing my buddy friend little plushie Boo dressed in different costumes. Oh the temptation is killing me. Didn't I say I'm planning to come back soon?  For sure, you will see me in there soon!

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• See all photos from Karen K. for Kinokuniya Bookstore

3/8/2015

Kinokuniya Bookstore is one of my happy places. Although I rarely purchase anything here, it's a must-stop when I visit Japan Town. Their window displays are always creative and fun, featuring the latest cutesy books and toys from Japan. The upstairs is packed full of whimsical gadgets from brands such as Gamago (magnets, bottle openers, key caps, etc,) calendars, stuffed toys and unique t-shirts. And that's only the left hand side of the top floor! I'm a big fan of their classic book cover t's and array of Hello Kitty books and accessories-fun to browse, even as a 40-something.

Upstairs is where you'll also find recent trendy and fun books, magazines and plenty of cookbooks, self help, classics, etc.

Heading downstairs the focus is on manga ans anime. The store has such a diverse offering and released atmosphere. Out of town visitors delight in stopping here as well-so much to browse and take in. A wonderful stop and perfect location that fits in the other stores in the Japan Center malls.

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  In case you need a bottle opener...

  In case you need a bottle opener...
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  Would like one of each

  Would like one of each
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  This table of wonder will greet you when you enter

  This table of wonder will greet you when you enter

7/30/2015

It was like 4 years ago since I started to idolize Japan because of this Japanese Idols that I used to like. In 3 over this 4 years, I live in the asian country which is near to Japan, but never had a chance to buy this J-pop idols goods because for me twas too hella pricey. But when I visited this store, it surprised me a lot seeing a magazine which is I wanna bought wayback to my home country. This store have 2 floors, 2 floors of Japanese books imported from Japan.

5/21/2015

I have a couple friends who would be head-over-heels for this place. Too bad they live in other states/countries... ;(

I've never been to a Kinokuniya before, but I think I would love to go again. It's half-Barnes & Noble, half-comic book store. I was drawn in by the adorable Toki Doki merchandise in the window display (an entire Toki Doki section, oh em gee) and in the interim got to browse the entire store.

The focus seems to be on artsy books and Japanese/Chinese-influenced books, although there is an "English best-sellers'" section. Everything is about as expensive as you would expect to see in a Barnes and Noble (i.e. very expensive) but there are a number of clearance sections scattered throughout.

The top half of the store is all B&N but the bottom half of the store is devoted exclusively to anime and manga. They also have a number of Japanese fashion and hobby magazines that I'm sure are very hard to find anywhere outside of Japan itself.

I didn't buy anything on this occasion (although I was sorely tempted). Next time, though...we'll see. ;)

4/22/2015

Kinokuniya is basically half book & magazine store and half Spencers Gifts. It reminds me of my local Newsbeat stores but on a much larger scale. They've got your standard books and magazines as well as specialty Japanese titles- it's where I get my Japanese street fashion magazine fix. They also have calendars, cards, posters, prints, shirts, toys, models, plushes, collectibles, figurines, novelties, just tons of cool things to buy.

There are two levels to Kinokuniya: the upstairs level has everything described, the lower level has the same stuff but geared specifically to anime and manga. It's one of the most popular stores in the Japantown Mall, and for many good reasons. Highly recommend!

7/20/2015

Damn, this place has tons of Japanese books.  The comic book selections are amazing.  

Tip:  For any purchase over $20, they will validate your parking for $2 off.

2/5/2015

Struggling to get the shape of your Rilakkuma onigiri just right? You can find a how-to book here.

Two floors of shit you would otherwise need to fly to Japan to get.

Or obtain through questionable, possibly illegal, methods.

Kinokuniya, do like Muji and Uniqlo and finally come to Canada.

Toronto, if possible.

Thanks.

8/10/2014

I love Kinokuniya bookstores.  I have been to the one in NYC, Seattle, and now San Francisco.  This one is also pretty nice and there are signs above each section that tells you what it is.

There's so many random categories here, and a lot of foreign language books as well.

I picked up a Hello Kitty Japanese culture book for $25.  A lot of these books, especially the imported ones, are not cheap but I often find that you can't really find a lot of these books on Amazon or another US-based store, so oftentimes it's better to just buy the book at Kinokuniya.  I would not recommend buying any books that you can easily find on Amazon though because it's usually a bit cheaper there (unless you really want to support the store).

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  Best book ever

  Best book ever

6/15/2015

This store has everything! Well, everything a bookworm would want. Although the majority of the books/magazines there are in japanese, they have a variety of books in English such language learning, design, art work, manga, history, and so forth. CDs, DVDs, and specialty merchandises are also sold in the store. Downstairs, they have a manga center for all the manga-lovers (no chairs unfortunately) with anime-related merchandise.

7/3/2015

This is a great book store for new Japanese books. I've been here a few times, and you can basically find anything that you are into, and the magna selection downstairs is pretty entertaining too. The staff is friendly and its never that busy unless you go during April Cherry Blossom Festival. Prices are obviously higher than the yen marked on the book. Thats just comes with the territory of buying rare or new Japanese Items.

8/11/2014

Not just an exclusively Asian bookstore, this place carries a few English and other international literature ~ not a lot, but it's here.

Of course, when you find yourself in Japantown, it's nice to immerse oneself in the Asian culture a bit; I mean, why not? It's fascinating, to say the least, browsing through pages of titles you can barely pronounce, perusing magazines and graphic novels that are beyond your scope of literacy. Plenty are actually translated, so if you stick around long enough you might just find a text you wouldn't mind adding to your personal library at home.

I thoroughly enjoy looking at their art books and sketches. Lately, I've been gravitating towards that section of different bookstores in hopes of finding a certain inspiration for my next ink work. This place, in particular, held their own in offering up some rather unique authors and artists of books I would've never been exposed to had I not visited this part of town.

Kendamas are also available here, for you young'nes whom I know are on that craze as of late. I was, admittedly, tempted to get one.. Anyway, great bookstore. It's worth it for anyone to check out if you're around the area.

4/14/2015

The staff was not helpful. I needed to find a book for studying Japanese. The school I take classes from is located near Kinokuniya bookstore and even has a discount set up with store. However, when I asked the staff where this book was located, they just told I me, I know this school, but I don't know where the book is. Fortunately, when I was about to give up I ran into a fellow student there who had the book. They showed me where it was. When I went to check out I had to sign a sheet that linked my association to the school.  From looking at the list, there were at least 5 people who had bought the same book that same day... Furthermore, I accidentally bought two "drills", instead of one "drill" and one "note". I wish the staff could have helped me notice that I had picked out two of the same books....

When I told my teacher where I bought the books she was vey surprised that the store didn't notice I bought two of the same books.

I really like Kinokuniya bookstore, because it's a great resource for me, but I hope that the staff will become more professional and helpful.

4/2/2015

I went here on the 30th of December, of last year, in celebration of my Aunt's birthday since she always wanted to visit San Francisco's Japantown as well as this book store.

I've been to the San Jose location and it's quite smaller than this location but both stores are pretty awesome. I pretty much fangasm'd when I finally saw the place in person since it was WAY better than the photos I've seen on Yelp; photos just do not do this store justice. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE HERE.

Honestly, I'm a shameless fundashi and the San Jose location just didn't quite have what I wanted. So, aside from the fact that my family and I went to Japantown for my Aunt's birthday, my sole purpose of visiting San Francisco's Japantown was to visit this store..........*coughs*....because it has a yaoi section.

Yes. Because of that.

I bought two yaoi manga from this store and kept the receipt as a souvenir. There was just a select few yaoi manga that were available in English, especially for the one's from suBLime, but there were plenty in Japanese; I guess the English translations weren't much of demand. :,(

But yes, please go to this store!
Two floors and the bottom floor is dedicated to all things manga and anime!

7/12/2014

There is two glorious floors to this store!! The top floor is full of wonderful plushies, collectibles, and Japanese books as well as children books!
But the 2nd floor is where the real good stuff is! There is wonderful anime everywhere! CDs, manga, figures, mystery boxes and everything you can think of! They also have a couple 50% off deals for magazines sometimes so there is a lot of good deals and great finds here!!

You definitely will not be disappointed if you love anime and japan, compared to the San Jose location,  (which is a wonderful store) there is a big selection and wider range of goods!

Come to SF and visit this must see heaven

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  All that I got while in Japantown

  All that I got while in Japantown

3/21/2015

You can never find these books outside in SF but they have anime drawing , manga books and illustrated art book. I go there sometimes to check and buy my favorite books I want. :) plus they have tons of stuff upstairs on the 2nd floor. I wanna go back there again

7/21/2014

I have visited this store maybe three times now, and still amazes me with the awesome Japanese fashion magazine selections.  There are 2 floors in this store, I am always checking out the 2nd floor since they have fashion books, guides and magazines there.  In my recent visit, I ended up getting the Baby, the Stars Shine Bright - Book box with bear blanket... so cute I couldn't resist!  

If you're in the SF area and need your Japanese anime/manga/magazine fix, then you definitely have to visit Kinokuniya!

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  Baby, the Stars Shine Bright - Book x Bear Fleece!

  Baby, the Stars Shine Bright - Book x Bear Fleece!

8/13/2014

Kinokuniya Bookstore is located at Japantown in San Francisco. This bookstore always have the coolest thing ever I can spend hours here.  It is on the second floor in the mall so there are enough stores to shop around and restaurants to grab a bite as well.  The street parking is alright all meters so come prepare with coins.

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  Sonny Angels...

  Sonny Angels...

4/23/2014

I secretly wish that Kinokuniya Bookstore were my boyfriend. It is almost perfect in every aspect - variety, qualify and service. If I live in SF, I would visit Japan Town to see my crush every day.

Boyfriend Quality 1 - Kinokuniya has a great selection of Japanese books, magazines, manga and toys, which appeal to all age groups and personalities. As an artist, I love the modern art and architecture books. The nano blocks and high quality Japanese figures also attracted my attention.

Boyfriend Quality 2 - The bookstore's organized set-up is friendly to first-time visitors. The first floor is dedicated to manga fans, and the second floor targets to literature and magazine fans. It was easy for me to navigate and search for items I wanted quickly.

What would make Kinokuniya 100% be my dream man?

The service has room in improvement - One of the cashier ladies was sick, and she wore a huge mask to avoid spreading the germs. I appreciate her effort in being hygienic, but I would recommend her speaking louder in order for me to hear her properly. It took me three times to understand her instructions in setting up the toy figures.

Kinokuniya, I love you!

5/6/2015

I enjoy walking through this bookstore because of the variety of things they carry.  They have the anime section downstairs and upstairs are regular books, magazines and gifts.  I love the selection of magazines and the gifts they offer.  Tons of toys, and stationary gift that will be perfect for almost anyone.  Great place to spend some free time if you are in the area.

7/8/2015

in my japantown center review, i mentioned this bookstore. awesome awesome awesome is all i can say!

3/8/2014

Hey, what can I say, I come here to get a visual of what is going on in Japan. I can't read half the stuff in the magazines because I can't read "kanji!" I love to peruse through Japanese magazines, getting an idea of what's popular in Japan and also, looking at food pics, lol!

Don't be discouraged, there's a ton of books and magazines for the non-Japanese reading public. You can easily spend hours here looking and choosing books or literature on just about anything!

It's not just magazines and books, either. There's a wide array of calendars, Tees (my favorite being, Totoro), accessories, writing utensils, stationary, DVD's, stuffed animals, Japanese alphabet charts and Hello Kitty items.

Take note, some of the mags are in packaging, buy first! Unless, you find an opened one. We always make it a point to stop here when visiting J-town, the boys like buying J-mags on VW's on what is trending there. The mags are pricey but it beats a plane ticket!

Make sure to get your parking voucher validated here, one of the many places that will do that in Japan town!

6/13/2014

I always end up buying something when I come downstairs into the manga section.  Usually I try to restrain myself, but sometimes I end up getting 4 mangas.  They have a large selection of Japanese magazines and Japanese books upstairs and the workers are always super polite.  

Kinokuniya has a very large manga section (Japanese comics) and I always enjoy perusing the different titles they have.  They have more Japanese manga than the translated English, but they still have a larger selection overall than any other bookstore.  Kinokuniya also sells toys, posters, shirts, and other anime products too.  It's a little expensive, especially in comparison to Amazon, but sometimes nothing beats going to a bookstore, running your hands along the spines of different books before deciding to choose which one to buy.

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  I always buy something in this store... Money flies out of my pockets every time.

  I always buy something in this store... Money flies out of my pockets every time.

4/24/2014

Great place to get lost in. Everything is well organized and in stock most of the time. The sales representatives are all nice and knowledgeable in everything around the store and stock volume of certain items.

Upstairs is all the magazine, latest book releases and children/cook books and downstairs is all the manga and accessory items. I've found some pretty good deals here that are even cheaper than online at time like Blackjack volume that go for way over the retail price in certain sites.

If you manage to come during a sale, the calendars are pretty cheap if you want to decorate your room with something colorful or eccentric.

4/3/2015

I was there today!  I really love visiting it each time I am in Japantown.  I can't read Japanese, but I love to browse the Japanese AND English language selections.  The books in Japanese have great photos.  They have an AWESOME magazine collection as well as Japanese toys, decorations, umbrellas, fabric and totes.   Things you cannot find elsewhere. I also love the window displays.

12/20/2013

This store benefits more from having a selection of oddities than anything else. If your specific tastes are met, it's a great place to find the literature you seek. If not, you'll end up wondering why there is such an inordinate focus on areas of interest that the majority of the book store visiting public cares little about.

The store is split between Asian and English books and languages, with the English section simply titled "English Book." There are large sections on self-discovery, graphic novels and design, travel, a monstrous magazine section and probably the largest assemblage of tattoo books I've ever seen. In any case, a lot of the books seem like they were selected more for how much skin they show than anything else.

The unusual variety and location down the street from my favorite SF ramen house will keep me coming back. Only an in-person visit can help you decide if it's the bookstore for you.

2/14/2014

So I'm prodding my friend, asking should I or should I not send a Valentine to Alicia, as we're wandering through the aisles of this place.

I flip through some origami magazine, and pretend to read. That's what I love about this place, is that you can flip through things without someone with a ruler waiting to smack you.

I run through some possible card suggestions and my friend tells me that no, I shouldn't send a card. That Alicia would find it neither cute, nor funny.

Glad I didn't buy that card at Therapy in the Mission then.

So I wander through the aisles of this book store looking through the books, and since it's the day before Valentine's Day, it's like the books are all mocking me.

And then I find out that my friend is engaged, and so I putz around looking though comic books and toys, trying to lose myself in their huge selection of things that I may or may not be able to read or understand.

But I like it here because it's calm, and that's what I needed.

7/29/2014

Since Animate doesn't quite exist in the United States, Kinokuniya is the closest you can get for anime-related merchandise. Granted, it's expensive, but cheaper than a flight to Japan or Bookoff in Los Angeles.

Second floor contains more along the lines of a standard bookstore - Japanese novels, travel books, textbooks, and whatnot. It's clean and brightly lit and gives off a feel of....well, you know, a stereotypical bookstore. Lots of books, not too much noise other than background music playing, and even more books. The first floor has the manga, artbooks, CDs, anime BluRays, and merchandise related to the various series in popular culture. The annual $45 membership gets you 10% off all items if you get it. Prices are definitely marked up, but this is the premium of convenience - it is not much cheaper to buy it overseas and have it shipped over.

Fun to shop and the staff is friendly! Purchases over $30 (I believe? Something like that) gets you $2 off parking.

12/16/2014

Quite expensive for what it is. Lots of anime manga and trinkets but not cheaper than other stores around. Not sure i'd be back.

5/9/2015

They had a full wall of yaoi but no lolicon section. Disappointed.

10/17/2013

This is the same Kinokuniya that is located in Tokyo. Aka you can't get more legit than this =)

I was SUPER excited when I found out about this Kinokuniya! Since i lived in Japan for a year I can read and understand a good amount of Japanese, and I love going to the cooking section and seeing what new, awesome Japanese cookbooks they have in stock so I can attempt to replicate the yummy looking recipes at home. There is quite a bit of material in Japanese but English speakers do not fear!! There is a decent section of English books as well, and they have Haruki Murakami too!!!

You can also join their membership club which gives you 10% off your purchases after you pay the annual membership fee. Pretty good deal for people like me who are going to be frequently buying books from this place. The staff was really nice and cordial as well, I can't wait to come back ASAP (^-^)

11/10/2013

Do you like books? OK. How about books about video games, Japanese art, manga, anime, motion picture concept art, etc.? COOL! How about an amazing selection of all those types of books in both English and Japanese? GET OUTTA HERE!

Seriously, this the best Kinokuniya Bookstore I've been to and I've been to quite a few. There's a "regular" style shop upstairs and then this geek-o-rama downstairs. Whenever I come in here, I always walk out with at least 1 or 2 books. Sure, the prices are a little high, but if you're a frequent shopper you can get a "membership" for $25 a year which gives you 10% off every purchase.

The store is extremely well stocked, well laid out, clean, and has the nicest people working behind the counter who will be happy to let you check out merchandise if there's not a sample copy of something readily available!

AWESOME!!!!!

3/13/2014

Came here looking for "Darcy the Flying Hedgehog", to use as a happy pick me up during stressful days.  Left with several books.  Great selection of English, as well as Japanese titles.

1/9/2015

This is one of my favorite places to go. I am in a Japanese Language school and this book store has everything I need for that and more.
Their awesome fashion section, comics, little knickknacks, and cookbooks are my go-tos. It feels like you're in Japan when you go to this store. I dig it.

9/22/2014

This review is for one female staff at this bookstore.  

This weekend, I asked a lady at the cash register for a comic book ("砂の栄冠") I could not find on the shelf.  This cashier lady asked another staff to check on the computer since this staff was using the computer.  This staff just said "Not all series are here."  The cashier lady seemed confused and waited this staff to give her a little more information.  But this staff went back to what she was doing on computer, and did not say anymore about my comic book.  The cashier lady went back to this staff and asked what happened to the comic book she had asked, and this staff said "I said, not all series were here."  The cashier lady said nothing to this staff, then took me to the section that my comic book was supposed to be, and told me that the beginning of the series were not stocked.

This staff's customer service was terrible.  She did not give the cashier lady a clear instruction, did not offer me to order the missing episodes, and lastly, she was not friendly at all.  She acted like the cashier lady and I were bothering her, and she seemed very annoyed.

I hope she reads this review, and correct her attitude towards her co-worker and customers.  It was a very unpleasant experience.

11/13/2014

What an amazing store! This is how a store should be curated. Not only do they sell great design books and magazines featuring a variety of international artists, but they also have plenty of educational books for people who want to learn the techniques behind the artwork. They anticipate your needs with their selections, and that's why they are my number one brick-and-mortar store for design inspiration.

8/20/2014

Nice staff both upstairs and downstairs, its pricey but they allow you to browse and read the books there. Great place to just walk around and find random books and action figures and such. :)

12/2/2013

OTAKU SPLOOSH!
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THE DEETS:
- Large selection of Japanese books, magazines, and manga
- More impressive in size compared to the Los Angeles location
- Large selection of blind box toys from Japan
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LOCATION:
- Located inside the Japan Center, in the heart of San Francisco's Japan Town
- Two levels, first level dedicated to manga and anime. Second level dedicated to Japanese pop culture: from magazines, books, toys, pencils, pens, etc.
- Great staff, always courteous and helpful
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OVERALL:
- This is the spot that has everything your friendly neighborhood Otaku needs. You can find lots of Hello Kitty everything here from blind box toys to calendars. They also sell a ton of Tokidoki blind box toys, calendars, planners and stuffed toys. I sometimes like buying their magazines because they come with gifts or purses. The magazines usually go for about $20 or more, but it's worth it if you're going to get a LeSportsac or Coach clutch. The first level is also amazing, great selection of manga in English and Japanese along with anime (mostly Studio Ghibli). Would recommend this place for all Japanese Culture fanatics.

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