While I’ve very much made the shift to Kindle ebooks
Despite all of the books and magazines being Japanese I really enjoyed just walking around Paperback Cafe’s floor space. There’s some really cool layout features such as the elevated bookshelves and dramatic angles of the cases and the whole store had a surprisingly fresh feel, especially when compared to the average book store in Japan which is normally quite dusty, unkempt and uninspired.
The cafe section is really nice. It’s super clean and modern (those coloured blinds are simple yet so effective) but also has a really warm feeling due to the bookcases and small touches such as the blackboards and furniture.
Paperback Cafe, like all the cafes on 25 Cafes, is 100% no smoking and also has wonderful free wi-fi internet that doesn’t require any sort of registration or secret password to use. Free wi-fi is pretty hard to come by in Tokyo and I could easily recommend stopping by just on that feature alone.
The coffee won’t impress hard core coffee aficionados but is just fine for the average customer. All the regulars such as lattes, cappuccinos, mochas, etc are available for a few hundred yen each and there’s a pretty good selection of cakes and other sweets on offer though if you’re after more filling food a lot of the sandwiches contain shrimp so be careful if you have any allergies.
All the menus are in Japanese but since the majority of the items are loan words from English, ordering shouldn’t be too difficult if you have trouble communicating in Japanese.
Definitely check out Paperback Cafe if you’re in the area.
Station: Higashi Nakano
Train Line: Sobu and Oedo Lines.
Features: Free Wi-Fi Internet and 100% Smoke Free.
Menu Language: Japanese
Hours: 10am – 10pm
Address: 〒164-0003 東京都中野区東中野4-4-26 アトレヴィ東中野 3階
3F Atre, 4-4-26 Higashi Nakano, Nakano, Tokyo 164-0003
Phone Number: 03-5937-2590
Website: www.tokyodoshoten.co.jp (Japanese) & www.Atre.co.jp (Japanese).
Map: View on GoogleMaps
Directions: Paperback Cafe is on the third floor of the Atre shopping centre in the Higashi Nakano Station building near the Sobu Line’s A1 Exit.
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