If you knew the neighborhood the shop was in, it might make more sense. It’s far removed from Picadilly Square and the Japan Centre, believe me. :-/

Good point about the beauty of sparseness and seasonality, which are definitely hallmarks of Japanese “art”. I was going to write on that coincidentally soon after reading a book on Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the infamous shogun.

My book collection has been large at times, and I was forced to trim down to “essential” books only (still one whole bookshelf, yikes). Amazing how few books you actually need, which I didn’t appreciate until I moved back to the States and had little to carry with me.

I sort of like the sparseness and seasonality of traditional Japanese décor. Everything packed away in boxes until it’s put out for a while in the right season.
Of course the other style I’ve seen in movies is the books everywhere décor of the impoverished writer, which is more the way I’m going!