Weekly magazines (Shūkanshi 週刊誌) are not what they used to be. Small local book shops like this one have slowly disappeared mainly due to weakening sales of weekly magazines and more and more combini appearing over the years. Convenience stores are open 24/7 and in good locations. Usually, you can stand and read the magazine without buying it. This is known as tachiyomi 立ち読み. Shūkanshi are mainly purchased by shop owners like small restaurants, barbers etc so customers can have something to read while waiting. There are many types of weeklies ranging from news to manga to porn. At one point, Shōnen Jump had the highest circulation of any magazine in the world and the amount of paper they used to print it could circle the earth 1.5 times. That’s a lot of manga being read. I saw that on TV so it must be true.
And I completely forgot it was Golden Week until just now! Woohoo!! Going to see Spiderman 3 on Tuesday!
That’s interesting, because I was at a Japanese restaurant in L.A., and they had shukanshi for customers too.
Same thing here… Foo Foo Tei in Hacienda Heights (and terrific ramen too!)
We just got in the other day, but what exactly should we expect during golden week? Or is there anything that you reccomend doing during golden week? And hopefully well go see spider man in a bit, and i hope its subbed and not dubbed : D
Akoua, Toyotageek, you mean they had Japanese magazines there?
Andrew, there are some festivals to see around the Kanagawa area if you are heading out there. Check out this site.
http://www.kanagawa-kankou.or.jp/index-e.html
Also, Spiderman should be subtitled but there are some shows that are dubbed. Check first.
Roy,
Yes, I should have been more clear, but they do have Japanese magazines at Foo-Foo Tei. I’m not 100% certain they are current Shūkanshi, but I know that many are Manga - 2 bookcases full. They also have a rack of current Japanese magazines (fashion, auto). The place gets packed during peak hours. Most of the waiting is outside since the indoor waiting space is only about 6×8 feet! The food is great.
らいしゅう ロサンゼルス へ いきます…
ill be there next week, i am not that familiar with la, thats not in little tokyo is it? anywhere near santa monica or culver city?
domo,
jonas
Jonas: Noodle House Foo-Foo Tei, 15018 Clark Ave., Hacienda Heights, CA 91745 (626)937-6585
[north of the 60 fwy, east of the 605 fwy - it’s in a strange location, not much else there - rundown looking industrial & residentail neighborhood - but the food is great!]
More entires like this Roy! This is great. I love your entires describing some aspect of Japanese life or daily living in Japan. More please!
People in the office would be talking about their plans to go back to their hometowns and about shinkasen tickets - it’d be impossible to miss Golden week! Unless people in the office are soooo dedicated to the company they continue working throughout it.
I’m trying to get tix to Spidey-3!!