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Good Day BooksTopics: Books, Book Stores Good Day Books (http://www.gooddaybooks.com) sells used (and also new) books. And -- with certain rules -- they accept used books for credit. They're very near Ebisu Station on the JR Yamanote line in central Tokyo. Their phone number is (03) 5421-0957. (The (03) is the central Tokyo area code; no need to use it when in that area.) English is spoken (well), so you can ask whatever details you need to. You can bring in used books at certain times on certain days. For any book that is accepted, you're given credit (not cash). You can use part or all of this credit in paying for further used-book purchases there -- the same day, or within one year from that day. Also, this credit is transferable; you can give (or even sell) your credit to somebody else. The amount of credit per book is not large. I think the owner gives half of what she would sell it for, so this amounts to just a few hundred yen per book. But if you have a lot of books, and if you let your credit ride, you can end up with a good amount of credit for future purchases. You can carry your books to the store, but even if they're not busy it can take awhile for them to get around to checking them -- up to an hour. (They check for condition and for whether they already have enough copies of the same books.) Or you can just leave the books and your contact information and they'll e-mail you a credit notice. If you have a transport problem -- large quantity, too far, etc. -- you can send a boxload by takkyubin (courier), with your phone number and e-mail address inside. Since they keep a record of your credit balance, this would be a good strategy for people who don't live close to central Tokyo but could come into town within their credit year. They won't necessarily accept _all_ of your books, so you could be faced with having to tote some of them home again. (I used to leave them on train and subway car overhead racks.) But you can say you just plain don't want them and don't care what happens to them, and if they're not overloaded at the time you can leave them there. (They do _not_ end up selling these discards without giving you credit, because they've already ruled them out due to bad condition or oversupply.) They do not accept hardbacks in general. In paperbacks, they usually don't accept best sellers, because they almost always already have several copies, and there just isn't enough space. I think they are not keen on Japanese and English language study materials for the same reason, but check to be sure. They sell new books, including hardbacks, and can order books for you. Even the used books have a remarkable range of subject matter. I've found some treasures there. Most of the stock is in English, but other languages are there too (mostly European). ES << Gojo Guest House | Index | Gotemba Premium Outlets >> |