Kinokuniya, Kuala Lumpur

A few more posts about Malaysia …

My regular readers know that I(Chris) like taking pictures of bookstores and have been posting them online, for example:  Alexandre in Budapest, Livraria Cultura in Sao Paulo, MIT Press in Boston, Waterstones in London. As we were wandering in KL’s celebrated shopping mall – Suria KLCC, we found this massive Books Kinokuniya.

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Kinokuniya is a Japanese bookstore chain that has opened stores beyond its native country. There is one in New York on 6th Avenue between 40th and 41st across from Bryant Park – a few blocks from my old office.

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As expected, one finds Japanese books in Kinokuniya.

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There were also plenty of English books.

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… including text books and models of cars.

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As there were many Chinese in KL, we found a Chinese section. But we did not see a Malay section. It was probably there but it was less prominent and escaped our perusal. A section of Chinese magazines – most if not all use traditional Chinese characters and came from Taiwan or Hong Kong.

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There was also a large manga section …

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… as well as Western (US mostly) comics nearby.

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Matchbox-sized metal diecast toy cars were a surprising find. I(Chris) was really tempted to buy one. There are currently 140 models in the Tomica brand lineup, which is continually being renewed with the release of a new model on the third Saturday of each month.

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Also surprised to find was the number of tarot cards, Western fortune-telling paraphenalia on sale.

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There was a cafe upstairs.

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The well-stocked arts section was upstairs.

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Sadly, bookstores are disappearing in the United States due to ebooks.

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