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Shared bookstores let bibliophiles meet owners with a passion

Low initial costs help renters of shelves sell their favorite books easily

Hanaseru Share Honya Tomarigi in Chigasaki, Kanagawa prefecture, has a cozy Japanese-style room where people can mingle after shopping. (Photo by Shuntaro Nimura)

TOKYO -- Shared bookstores, where each shelf is operated by a different owner, are cropping up in Japan's big cities, allowing book lovers to find new books and interact with each other.

Passage, a shared bookstore in Tokyo's Jimbocho district, popularly known as "book town," has sets of shelves named after 31 streets in France, inspired by the shopping streets of Paris.

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