Manila International Book Fair (MIBF) is the biggest and most sought after book fair in the Philippines which is now celebrating its 40th year. I always look forward to MIBF because in its five-day run, Fully Booked, my favorite local bookstore, always gives 20% off on all of their books! Crazy, right? So if you are a bookworm and happens to be in the Philippines, this event is something you should never ever miss out!
For this year, I decided to adjust my working shift to attend on its opening day. Why? Because when I attended Big Bad Wolf Book Sale a couple of months ago, I belatedly realized that business-minded people hoard books on book fairs and buy multiple copies of the same titles at a discounted price to resell at a higher price online or maybe, at their own physical shops. I usually go hunt for English translated Japanese fiction because they are both rare (not something you usually see in the shelves of local bookstores so if there are copies available, they're usually very few) and expensive (like double or triple the price of normal books so discounts are pretty much a God sent gift). Plus, I have a growing collection of J-lit so it's my number one priority. So, if I go at a later date, the chances of coming across Japanese fiction in translation is close to zero (they are pretty in demand especially at online bookstores), which beats my purpose of going there. Luckily, my request for a later shift was approved prior to the event so I managed to go at MIBF in the morning.
When I arrived at the venue, I was surprised to see so many people from different organizations and walks of life patiently waiting in line to get inside. I was so used to attending MIBF on weekends (not the first day), so I didn't expect the crowd. I guess that's just shows how much people loves books.
I didn't explore the whole venue (I didn't have the time and additional money to be lured by books from other booths) and immediately went straight to Fully Booked upon entering the building. And below are the list of Japanese books and related stuff I saw at the Fully Booked booth:
- Japanese textbooks like Nihongo Soumatome, Nihongo 500 Mon, (if I'm not mistaken) etc. This is a big help for Japanese learners because ordering these books online could cost a lot of money especially due to shipping fees which are based on weight and location.
- Japanese idols and actresses Photobooks. I saw Suzu Hirose's! This is really a surprise. I am not sure if Fully Booked had PBs at previous MIBF events but it's the first time I noticed them.
- Japanese magazines, design, and art books. CLAMP artbooks are so pretty!
- Manga - this section is divided in English and Japanese! In the English section, we have lots of titles to choose from, from shounen to shoujo, BL, and Yuri. In the Japanese section, there are also quite a lot of mangas available. I remembered seeing Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun and Wotakoi volumes among the shelves. Oh, I saw Junji Ito books, too. I wanted to buy one but they're really expensive even if I considered the 20% discount. *cries in Japanese*
- Light novels - sadly, very few compared to previous events. I've only seen two titles from Nisioisin's famous Monogatari series.
- Translated Japanese fiction - As expected, there are so many Murakami Haruki books in the booth. As for the others, please see below titles I've seen yesterday:
- Higashino Keigo's Malice and A Midsummer's Equation
- Kirino Natsuo's Out
- Kawakami Hiromi's The Ten Loves of Nishino and The Nakano Thrift Shop. I don't own a Kawakami Hiromi book yet because it's immediately sold out at local online bookshops. And the ones available at Fully Booked branches are usually the versions more expensive compared to the ones I'm looking for.
- Dazai Osamu's No Longer Human and The Setting Sun
- Natsume Soseki's I Am a Cat and Kokoro
- Ogawa Yoko's Memory Police and The Housekeeper and the Professor
- Akutagawa Ryunosuke's Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories
- Nakamura Fuminori's The Thief, Evil and the Mask, and Cult X
- Abe Kobo's The Box Man
- Ishiguro Kazuo's Never Let Me Go and The Buried Giant
- Arikawa Hiro's The Travelling Cat Chronicles
- Mishima Yukio books (sorry I forgot the titles)
- Kawabata Yasunari books (sorry I forgot the titles)
- Sumino Yoru's I Want To Eat Your Pancreas
- Ozeki Ruth's A Tale for the Time Being
- Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji
- Enchi Fumiko's Masks
- Kawamura Genki's If Cats Disappeared from the World
- Anthologies and story compilations from various Japanese authors like Japanese Fairy Tales, Modern Japanese Stories, Japanese Death Poems, etc.
And these are the books I've bought with their respective discounted prices:
1.) Memory Police by Ogawa Yoko (P652.80) - out of all the Japanese fiction I am planning to search inside the booth, my ultimate goal is to grab a copy of this book. It was recently released but was expensive (if you convert it to Philippine peso) at Book Depository. I saw a copy on a local online bookshop at a cheaper price but was not able to reserve it because it's on first come first serve basis. I even joined an online giveaway contest to have a copy but still no luck. So, my only way to have Memory Police at a lesser price is attend the MIBF and wish to find a copy of it. Fortunately, I found a couple of copies of the book inside the booth. I immediately grabbed one and hugged it, feeling like the angels were singing in the bright morning sky. Heavenly! ♡
2.) I Want To Eat Your Pancreas by Sumino Yoru (P659.20)- I honestly didn't know there was already an official English translated version of this! More than two years ago, I've read the fan-translated version of the book and quickly became a fan of Sumino Yoru. I even secured a copy of the original Japanese novel when I first visited Japan because this is one of the books I would like to read raw in the future. Needless to say, I quickly add it to my cart without much thought. There's also a manga version available but right now, I'm only interested in the novel version.
3.) Cult X by Nakamura Fuminori (P689.60) - This is the thickest book I bought at MIBF and it was a little bit cheaper than Sumino Yoru's book. I decided to buy this because the title intrigued me, plus, I'm also planning to read his other works. I already owned a copy of Kingdom, so Cult X will be my second Nakamura book.
4-5.) Bakemonogatari Part 2 (P574.40) & Kabukimonogatari (P612.80) by Nisiosin - Nisioisin is one of my favorite authors and it's frustrating because it's hard to collect the Monogatari series. You would never see them complete in any local bookstore branches. And counting the books I already have, plus these two volumes I've bought yesterday, I only have four out of sixteen books which are already released, not to mention more volumes will be released in the coming months and years. I know I always complain about the price, but these series are particularly expensive especially compared to jun bungaku, or pure literature, in translation. And if you think that's mainly because it's a translated book, search up the price of the original raw novels. They are also more expensive than jun bungaku. My wallet is aching just thinking about this sad truth. Another thing, I have never seen a copy of this series (be it brand new, remaindered, or secondhand) on local online shops which sell at a lesser price.
Will I ever manage to catch up in collecting this series? The only thing I know right now is I need a higher salary to achieve that. *sobs in Japanese*
6.) Norwegian Wood by Murakami Haruki (P252.00) - this is my first time buying his book. I know H. Murakami is very popular but believe it or not, I haven't read any of his works yet. Few years ago, I've tried reading an ebook copy of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle but gave up immediately after the first few chapters because I couldn't get into it. Maybe it's because I haven't read something like this before so I got impatient. I bought Norwegian Wood hoping I would enjoy it enough to read his other books as well.
7.) Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (P190.40) - I became interested in reading this book because it was previously mentioned in a Jdrama, but I forgot the title. I thought it was Byakuyakou but belatedly realized that for that drama, it was Gone With The Wind.
8.) Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (P224.00) - I've recently read an article wherein Ogawa Yoko mentioned that her encounter with this book inspired her to become a writer herself. I know this is a classic book and I always see copies of this in almost every available bookstore in the country, but I haven't read it yet because I am not generally fond of classic books. Hopefully, this book will help me appreciate them more.
9.) Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz (P652.80) - out of all the books I bought yesterday, this is the only book I wanted to read which was completely unrelated to Japanese authors or books. I'm just genuinely interested in reading Magpie Murders because of the cool plot and the lovely title and book cover. Haven't read any of Horowitz before but if I will like this book, I would definitely want to try his other mystery books as well.
These nine books cost me P4,508 and it was my most expensive book haul ever. Sometimes I am getting scared about my book hoarding tendencies. But when I think that I will eventually buy these books in the future, with no stock available or a 20% discount guarantee, I feel it's okay not to have any regrets. Especially since buying these made me extremely happy. I am looking forward to reading them all.
Hopefully, I will be able to attend MIBF next year and have great finds again! (❁´◡`❁)♡
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