Kinokuniya Bookstore

You can never find these books outside in SF but they have animé 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 2^nd floor. I wanna go back there again

Amazing bookstore! A great place to visit if you’re ever in San Francisco! First level is all animé related and second floor is japanese novels, novelty trinkets, japanese magazines, and cd’s!

Whenever I go to Japantown, I simply MUST stop in here. Even if I don’t buy anything, I love walking into Kinokuniya for the great bookstore atmosphere. You can definitely think of it as a «Japanese Barnes and Noble», but I think has much more to offer than Barnes. They have cute little trinkets, CDs imported from Japan, magazines from Japan/​Korea, and my favorite place is the lower level floor where they have animé and manga galore. The animé part is what you’d call an «otaku paradise.» Anything an animé fan could want — from CDs, DVDs, tons of volumes of manga, etc — it’s all there! I do admit a lot of things are kinda pricey, but sometimes you can find a good sale on various items. The store is always clean and organized and the staff is very friendly, nice, and helpful. If you’re going to Japantown, you should definitely stop by here!

Think, «Asian Barnes And Nobles.» Located inside the Japantown Center mall, this is one of «must go too» stores when I’m in Japantown. It is a giant bookstore with a huge selection of magazines and books. The store also carries little stuffed animals and random little appliances for everyday use, which is always next to their small collection of videos. Located downstairs is any Otaku’s dream; the manga and animé section with a wide variety of manga, animé, posters, etc.
Pro’s: There is a huge variety of books, magazines, animé, manga, and fun stuff to check out.
Con’s: The prices on books and magazines are pricey, and certainly not affordable for a broke student! Buuuut there are some good deals at times on various books and manga!

Kinokuniya is always a stop whenever I go to SF Japantown. It’s always a nice feeling to walk into a bookstore instead of order online. And I always walk out with a heavy bag and a lighter wallet!
I’m always down on the first floor, and for animé fans, like me, it’s like heaven on earth! CDs, manga (translated and non-​translated), light novels, blind boxes, keychains, pins… the list goes on!
It’s a bit pricey, but it’s worth the trip!

Great bookstore! Whenever I am around Japantown, I love coming to this store. Whenever I go in I find something interesting whether its a cookbook or a good manga. I bought some Totoro and Mr. Toast collectibles here one time and I would go back for more if I could.

It’s an overpriced bookstore that I love to visit when I come to japantown. It was a lot of selection but primarily in non-​english language. They also have a lot of manga downstairs which is awesome.

Who wouldn’t love this store? Such a fan of just meandering around to see what’s cool.
Specifically, had to get a gift for my reddit Secret Santa, who is totally into animé… me — not so much. So went downstairs to the manga/​animé section and talked to the folks. Found out they didn’t have too much for my Ghost in the Shell obsessed reddit match, but they were kind enough to point out the other store in Japan Center that carries models and figures, etc. and sure enough I went there and found an affordable option. Came back and got a keychain and notebook cover for a different animé and went away happy. Plus they do validate for parking if you spend more than $ 20.
In years past, I’ve gotten super cool iron-​on sticker booklets and regular sticker booklets that are so very Japanese. Go, go, go here!

I like stopping in here overtime I come to Japantown. There is an assortment of items here, on the main floor (upper level), you can find some fun and odd novelties items, Music and of course books! While I am not looking at the items in Japanese (I would love to learn), there are books in english. I like that they stock different sorts of authors, I usually wander and note the books that look interesting and see if the local library might have it.
They do have language books for Korean and Japanese, which my sister have gotten before. and I’ve purchased music and some items for my home and phone.
The bottom floor is mainly dedicated for art books (video game, animé), manga, some apparel, copic pen, other various trinkets. My sisters and I have found some great finds (folder holders with the lil wombat from Cute High Earth Defense Club).
They have a wide variety of manga, and over the years have picked up a couple of items as well as some fun key chains.
The manga section can be packed at times, so it get tends to get warm with all the bodies.
They do validate parking here, which is nice, and the store is alway well organized.

It’s a little dated but has some pretty cute items, like the ornamental cats with the wagging tails. In addition to books they have a few trinkets here and there.
If you’re in the market for some Japanese paperbacks this may be your place. If you’re a tourist like me, you can just pop in and browse for a few minutes.

I miss bookstores I feel like its so hard to come by them now with our technology growing and everything can be on the phone and whatnot. They have many varieties of books, magazines, and toys. My favorite is downstairs though they have manga and animé! It’s costly but it’s fun to visit and explore.

If you can’t read Japanese Kanji, then a lot of the books here will just be a passing curiosity for you. There are non-​Japanese books here too, but not the selection you’ll see in a Barnes and Noble. But don’t walk past this shop. First of all, it’s one of the nicest store in the mall, but more importantly, there are many Japanese trinkets that you can find here. That alone is worth an exploration.

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Kinokuniya Bookstore is the largest Japanese bookstore chain in the U.S. and a subsidiary of the largest bookstore chain in Japan. They own the Center’s Kinokuniya Building, a two-​level shopping/​dining mall, and the shop-​lined Webster Street Bridge connecting the Kinokuniya Building with the Kintetsu Mall.
The store is well organized, clean, and spacious. They offer a large range of books in English, Japanese and Chinese, as well as CDs, DVDs, and high quality stationary.
My niece went crazy in this store with Animé and Manga selections, as well as the toys. Are they expensive or what? Now I have a second thought before bringing my niece back here! On the upside, my niece loves everything in this store, sigh…

I’m happy to find the book that I wanted here. The price is a tat pricey but still in reasonable range considering shipping fee/​risk for damage or lost item and wait time.
I came in, can’t find the book that I’m looking for, went back to the front and asked the lady that work there for specific book. She was new, but listened for what I asked for. The guy came out to help me, but the first lady that I talked to, came back with the book that I’m looking for. YAY!
They have tons of manga collection downstairs. I can’t review them since I’m not a manga readers, but it’s pretty impressive.
They are also selling tshirt, posters, anything else animé related items downstairs.
Upstairs is usually for general book, Japanese and English, some nick-​nacks and Asian magazines.
They used to have more selection of magazines and books with gift. But not so much anymore. What with gift?! Usually during New Year or big event like say, Harry Potter premier movie, in Asia they are selling the book/​magazines with free gift inside. So it’s like a neat bundle. For New Year edition, a magazine will gift a free pocket organizer (this is before smart phone invented; read: plaguing).
I saw in Asia once when they start selling DVDs of My Neighbor Totoro to the public, the book/​dvd was bundled with a cute Totoro bag (WANT!!!). Too bad I was in the hurry and didn’t have the chance to get one. :/​
Anyhow, I love this bookstore. Bring back more bundles and magazines with gift!!!

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 animé 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.

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!

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 animé/​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.

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 animé 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. ;)

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 animé and manga. It’s one of the most popular stores in the Japantown Mall, and for many good reasons. Highly recommend!

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 animé/​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!

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 animé. 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.

Une grande et agréable librairie dans l’environnement parfois un peu glauque de Japantown, on se croirait vraiment quelque part dans Shibuya. Les manga se taillent bien sûr la part du lion mais vous y trouverez aussi toutes sortes d’ouvrages spécialisés sur la musique, la photo… Comme à la maison pour les Japonais, le paradis sur Terre pour les japanolâtres et un dépaysement complet pour les autres.