For the first time, actually starting to get a sense of which Jinbocho shops are which.

Keibundo 慶文堂 is a small shop, but one of the few with sections explicitly labeled by prefecture for regional histories etc.

Lots of other books on early modern and Meiji history too, as well as Ainu, Okinawa, folklore, etc other topics.

Ohya Shobo is a store I'd walked into once years ago, looking to see if they happened to have any Edo period books on Ryukyu (Okinawa). They did, if I was willing to pay hundreds ( or was it over a thousand?) of dollars.

Given the rarity of many of these books I suppose it's perhaps understandable. (maybe? Librarians, curators, pls tell me if I'm mistaken!) But even so, there are lots of old books avail in the district for as little as 500-1000 yen (~US$5 - 10). A guy can hope to get lucky, no?

Acacia Shoten アカシヤ書店 is a small shop a tiny bit removed from the main street, down a side street. Carries mainly books on Go and Shogi . But also has tons of old issues of Tokyojin 東京人, and some surprising other stuff (eg one or two 10000yen academic books on Ryukyu)

Isseido 一誠堂 feels like it's probably a mainstay of Jinbocho. Beautiful old building, gives the whole shopping experience a more sort of refined or elite, professional feel.

Tons of obnoxiously expensive academic books arranged very neatly. A very different feel from the kind of shop (which I also love) that's just piles and piles, like a thrift store of books - hoping for lucky finds.