Thammasat University students who are interested in Japan studies, literature, fiction, gender studies, pop psychology, philosophy, and related subjects may find a newly acquired book useful.

What You Are Looking For Is in the Library is by Michiko Aoyama, a Japanese novelist and journalist born in Saitama, east-central Honshu, Japan.

The TU Library collection includes many books about contemporary Japanese literature. 

The narrative is about Tokyo residents who visit a local library.

The Hatori Community House is located next to an elementary school.

It comprises meeting rooms, a kitchen, and a library.

The library is small, but employs a full-time reference librarian, Sayuri Komachi, who is at the center of each story.

All of the library users have problems, but advice and book suggestions from Ms. Komachi, as well as a small bonus gift, help them to see what is most valuable in their lives.

Tomoka, 21 years old, left her small country town for junior college in Tokyo and now works in the womenswear department of a local general store, feeling unfulfilled.

Ryo, 35 years old, works in the accounts department of a furniture manufacturer but has long dreamed of opening an antiques shop while being terrified of the uncertainty of starting his own business.

Hiroya, 30 years old, unemployed and living with her mother, studied to be an illustrator but is too anxious to find and keep a permanent job.

Natsumi, 40 years old, a former magazine editor, feels overlooked after returning early from maternity leave.

And Masao, 65 years old, and newly retired, has spent over forty years focusing on his work instead of any hobbies, social connections, or his wife and child.

The librarian assures each character that a future is possible, despite their concerns.

Here are some quotes from What You Are Looking For Is in the Library, as posted online:

• “You may say that it was the book, but it’s how you read a book that is most valuable, rather than any power it might have itself.”
• “In a world where you don’t know what will happen next, I just do what I can right now.”
• “Life is one revelation after another. Things don’t always go to plan, no matter what your circumstances. But the flip side is all the unexpected, wonderful things that you could never have imagined happening. Ultimately it’s all for the best that many things don’t turn out the way we hoped.”
• “There are so many things to do, but I won’t make the excuse that I have no time anymore. Instead, I will think about what I can do with the time I have. One day is going to become tomorrow.”
• “As long as you continue to say the words “one day”, the dream is not over.”
• “When I buy a book, I also become part of the process as a reader. People working in the book industry are not the only ones who make the publishing world go round; most of all it depends on the readers. Books belong to everybody: the creators, the sellers and the readers. That’s what society is all about I believe.”
• “What I do know is that there’s no need to panic, or do more than I can cope with right now. For the time being, I plan to simply get my life in order and learn some new skills, choosing from what’s available.”
• “You can decide things, but there’s no guarantee everything will go as planned.”
• “I’m still searching. Searching for somewhere I can be accepted as I am. Just one place is all I need. Somewhere to be at peace.”
• “Readers make their own personal connections to words, irrespective of the writer’s intentions, and each reader gains something unique.”
• “If you can survive the ordeal of being born, you can get through anything.”
• “This didn’t just come to you. It happened because you did something for yourself. You took action and that caused things to change around you.”
• “I know that now. Just as every day is equal in value and no less important than all the others. The day I was born, today as I stand here now and the many tomorrows to come.”
• “Books will always be essential for some people. And bookshops are a place for those people to discover the books that will become important to them. I will never allow bookshops to vanish from this world.”

• “Life is one revelation after another. Things don’t always go to plan, no matter what your circumstances. But the flip side is all the unexpected, wonderful things that you could never have imagined happening. Ultimately it’s all for the best that many things don’t turn out the way we hoped. Try not to think of upset plans or schedules as personal failure or bad luck. If you can do that, then you can change, in your own self and in your life overall.” Then she looked off into the distance and smiled.”
• “Singles are envious of those who are married, and married couples envy those with children, but people with children are envious of singles. It’s an endless merry-go-round. But isn’t that funny? That each person should be chasing the tail of the person in front of them, when no one is coming first or last. In other words, when it comes to happiness nothing is better or worse—there is no definitive state.”
• “Everybody is connected. And any one of their connections could be the start of a network that branches in many directions. If you wait for the right time to make connections, it might never happen, but if you show your face around, talk to people and see enough to give you the confidence that things could work out, then ‘one day’ might turn into ‘tomorrow.”
• “You managed to find employment, you go to work every day and you can feed yourself. That’s a fine achievement.”
• “Things change. I change, other people change. That’s a good thing.”
• “Belonging is an ambiguous state, you know. Take this place, for example. We can both be in the same place, but having that sheet of glass between us makes us feel as if what is happening on the other side is irrelevant, doesn’t it. Remove the partition, however, and instantly you become part of the same world. Even though it is all one to begin with.” Mr. Ebigawa looks into my eyes. “This is how I see it, Mr. Gonno. I believe that every kind of contact between people makes them part of society. And that goes beyond the present moment. Things happen as a result of our points of connection, in the past and in the future.”
• But if you work in both an office and a shop, you’d never be able to go away anywhere, would you?’ ‘That’s true,’ he says with a nod, in a tone that suggests this is something he is used to being asked. ‘But I meet people here I wouldn’t otherwise and have some really interesting encounters. It’s like travelling to lots of different places every day. I might be in here all the time and never go out, but I get as much enjoyment out of it as I would from, say, a pastime like fishing.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)