My Japanese is very beginner level, I'm doing Heisig first, about 60% of the way through RTK 1 right now. I am leaving for Japan in a couple of days and I'll only be there for 90 days on a tourist visa but I will have a lot of free time during the day and was wondering if I am allowed to walk into a Japanese Public Library and take books off the shelves, read them while in the library, then put them back? I'm going to assume there's no way I could get a library card since I'm only there temporarily. Would that be totally weird/unacceptable? Should I ask someone who works there first? I am not confident that I have the Japanese ability to do that and am sort of people phobic. I have located the public libraries near where I will be staying. I would like to go to a library because money is kind of tight and I wanted to start out reading children's books and work my way up. But I don't really want to own a bunch of children's books (I mean the really basic picture book kind with like a sentence on each page, I wouldn't mind purchasing short children's novels once I get to that level if they were interesting). But if I couldn't use the library I also wanted to know if anyone knows of any good used bookstores in Yokohama, preferably near a train station? And/or used video game stores?

Thank you.

This is a really great idea, you don't need anything to go in and read books, you only need a card to take stuff out. There are some really nice libraries around too.

For used books and games Book Off is probably your best bet.

Libraries are one of the greatest things to have ever been invented. People get too caught up in consumerism and have forgotten about the library and instead try to be fashionable and go to Boarders or whatever to buy a book that they'll read once.

But to the point, yes, it is perfectly fine for you to go into the library to read a book and then leave it on the table/chair/wherever you read the book and leave. Basically, the library system is just like the one in america except for a few differences, like they way they organize books.

You might actually be able to get a card if you will have a "permanent" residence but you may have some trouble making the card if your language ability is a problem.

Yes, utlitlize the library as much as possible. If you want to buy a book later if you fall in love with it or something then I suggest amazon.co.jp for stuff while in Japan. If you want to pay a bit more but get it immediately then as caivano said, BooK Off is a good choice.

If you mean normal public libraries, I think no card is necessary. Anything inside a university or the National Diet Library needs a card, or a letter of introduction from your local library, however. Have fun!

Have you checked the web site of the library you intend to use? Some of them have pages in English too, if the Japanese is too hard:

e.g. http://libweb.city.setagaya.tokyo.jp/english/index.html, for the one I use

You may be able to get a reader's card just with some form of address, although I probably used my alien registration card when I got mine (can't quite remember, as it was a while ago).

It seems like the question about libraries has been answered, so I want to throw in some unsolicited advice.
When I was in Japan, I ended up reading a children's book that belonged to my host-family's 3 year old niece. Well, I tried to read it. But there were no kanji to help me figure out the words, and there were so many onomatopoeia that I really didn't understand very much of it. :o That said, it was also a book directed at a 3 year old, so maybe the ones for 5 year olds will make sense. Sometimes harder might actually be "easier". I just wanted to say don't doubt your ability in Japanese just because a kids' book is hard! (But maybe you'll have better luck than I did!)

And enjoy your time abroad! I'm only a little jealous.

I lived in Nara in 2007. The Nara prefectural library was the best I have ever seen. I spent both my days off during the dog days of summer there escaping the heat. They have about 100 computers and your library card signs you in for two hours of internet access, then move on to the next computer for two more hours. Continue this all day if you like. They also have an audio/video section where I would watch Discovery Japan videos with Japanese subtitles and Japanese audio dubbing when ever I got tired of studying online.

I wanted to thank everyone for answering my question, I walked to the Ayase Municipal Library today (綾瀬市立図書館) <<<I even learned how to write it . Does anyone know what the "立" part of it means though? It's the title that I found on the website..."stand up" or "vertical" doesn't really make any sense here. I did look it up first on the computer, thanks for that advice. I think this one is closest to me and I got directions from Google maps. Even with directions I still got lost on the way, hahaha. But some very helpful Japanese people steered me in the right direction, eventually. I haven't been to a Book-Off yet but I definitely plan to visit, I stumbled across a Hard-Off when I was "lost", way better than any used goods store I've been to in the US. The library seems like a pretty good place for me to start, I read a book called "バナナです" which just said banana desu on every page, lol, I'm pretty sure I can do better than that but I forgot to bring my Japanese/English dictionary and I don't know enough vocab to read without it yet. I'm going back next week more prepared, I plan to spend a few hours there at least 2-3 days a week. Being here makes me way more motivated to learn Japanese.

caitlind Wrote:I wanted to thank everyone for answering my question, I walked to the Ayase Municipal Library today (綾瀬市立図書館) <<<I even learned how to write it . Does anyone know what the "立" part of it means though?

Hiya caitlind,
The 立 part of many words (especially when used as the second kanj in a 熟語）usually has some implication of the word "independence," "establishment" or "private" (the meaning associated with "private organization"). ...which links with the meaning of "stand" pretty well, I think, if you consider the phrase of "stand alone." This is mainly a pattern I've come to see, and looking in a dictionary for words ending with "ritsu" further proves it. Example words: 私立 private, 孤立 isolation, 区立 establishment in a ward (often used to describe public schools as opposed to 私立 schools), 自立 independence, etc etc.

Ahh, if kanji was a food, it'd be my comfort food~