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Shinjuku / PLACE

Kinokuniya Shinjuku Main Store

Kunio Maekawa’s 1964 building joins books, a theatre and a small passage-like plaza; the architecture and art shelves continue the visit inside.

Visit fitReaders looking for architecture or English books on Japan · anyone who wants to continue a walk in print

Kunio Maekawa, a former pupil of Le Corbusier, designed the 1964 building, now a Tokyo Selected Historic Building. Kinokuniya Hall on 4F stages plays and rakugo; foreign-language books are on 7F.

Good to know

The small front plaza and the ground-floor passage running through the building; on 7F, English books about Japan.

Street view of the Kinokuniya Building entrance with its sign
Kinokuniya Shinjuku Main Store (Kinokuniya Building)
Image infoブラ松 · 2023-12-27 · CC-BY-SA-4.0 · resized and cropped

A bookstore entrance that becomes a street

Kinokuniya began in Shinjuku in 1927 and built this flagship on its founding site in 1964. Kunio Maekawa combined bookselling, a theatre, a gallery and other shops with a floor-1 plaza that continues like a street towards the rear lane. Curving tiled side walls and an upturned concrete balcony canopy frame the front. Pause here before browsing: a shopfront on a large road becomes a small place to stay. Outside the fourth-floor hall, original leaf-shaped floor tiles match those at Maekawa’s Tokyo Bunka Kaikan.

WHERE · On foot from here

Which side of the station, and how far

North-west of Shinjuku-sanchome Station, about 130 m in a straight line from the station point. It is inside the 紀伊國屋書店 building. The shaded areas are about 5 and 10 minutes on foot from here.

123Kinokuniya Shinjuku Main Store紀伊國屋書店 新宿本店Shinjuku-sanchome新宿三丁目駅Shinjuku新宿駅Shinjuku-nishiguchi新宿西口駅Hanazono ShrineSuehiroteiSekaido~5 min~10 minMeiji-dori Ave.100 mN123KinokuniyaShinjuku Main Store紀伊國屋書店 新宿本店Shinjuku-sanchome新宿三丁目駅Shinjuku新宿駅Hanazono ShrineSuehiroteiSekaido~5 min~10 min250 mN
This placeAbout 5 · 10 min on foot from here (computed, approximate)Read together

Walking bands are computed by FOW on the OpenStreetMap surface street network at 80 m/min and drawn as a smoothed approximate area around the streets reached. They ignore exit positions, station interiors, underground passages, signals, slopes and routes inside buildings — not directions; follow on-site signs.

Map data: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Walking bands: computed by FOW · Station and gate notes: official guidance (2026-10-16)

A visual book or a book to read

Architecture, art and photography are on 5F; foreign-language books and dictionaries on 7F; comics on 8F. Start on 5F for images and plans, or 7F for a book to read in English. With an art book, examine paper, printing and how an image uses the spread; with a reading book, begin with language and the size you want to carry.

Continue the neighbourhood on the shelves

After Hanazono’s theatre history, look for a book in the theatre or photography shelves to continue the neighbourhood in print. For a specific title, enter its Japanese title or ISBN in the store page’s stock search and select Shinjuku Main Store. Books Kinokuniya Tokyo near the southern Takashimaya side is a separate shop. A performance at the fourth-floor Kinokuniya Hall needs its own ticket.

Read it with

Isetan Shinjuku’s main building with its corner tower
Isetan ShinjukuCompare a department store’s selection with a bookshop’s organisation.
Steps leading up to Hanazono Shrine’s main hall
Hanazono Shrine“OLD / NEW EAST” · 1624–44 · moved here
Suehirotei’s wooden façade lined with performer name boards
Shinjuku Suehirotei“OLD / NEW EAST” · 1897 · timber hall 1946
Corner building in Shinjuku 3-chome with the vertical Sekaido sign
Sekaido Shinjuku Main Store“OLD / NEW EAST” · 1940 · as a frame shop

Before you go

Hours and fees
Main store at 3-17-7 Shinjuku, 10:00–21:00, with an underground connection near Shinjuku-sanchome B7.
Good to know
Not the same as Books Kinokuniya Tokyo to the south.
Official information ↗
See this item in the Atlas ↗Read in the Mapbook ↗
Sources · image info
  1. 紀伊國屋書店 新宿本店Kinokuniya Company Ltd. · as of 2026-09-29
  2. Kinokuniya · Shinjuku main-store floor guideKinokuniya · as of 2026-10-19
  3. Kinokuniya Building — architecture and original tilesBooks Kinokuniya · as of 2026-10-19