Japanese bookseller Yoshiyuki Morioka has come up with a highly unusual concept for a bookstore – he sells one book at a time in a tiny shop located in Ginza, Tokyo’s luxury shopping district. Ever since he launched the store in May, he has stocked multiple copies of only one title per week.

You might argue that it’s hardly a bookstore if you can’t go in and spend at least a few hours browsing through hundreds of volumes, but Morioka never intended to create a classic bookstore. It’s like a weekly ‘suggested reading’ service – you just go in and pick up the book chosen for the week, relieving yourself of the burden of choice.

Morioka said he came up with the idea of a store that solely focused on one book at a time after organising several book-launch events at his old bookstore.

“Before opening this bookstore in Ginza, I had been running another one in Kayabacho for 10 years,” Morioka toldThe Guardian. “There, I had around 200 books as stock, and used to organise several book launches per year.

During such events, a lot of people visited the store for the sake of a single book. As I experienced this for some time, I started to believe that perhaps with only one book, a bookstore could be managed.” To finance the store, Morioka sold his huge collection of Japanese wartime propaganda, famous for the quirky, strong graphics.

The store itself is minimal, with concrete walls and ceiling barely covered in a thin coat of white paint, and the raw concrete floor left as is. A vintage chest of drawers doubles as a counter, while a flimsy table in the center displays the title of the week.

According to Morioka, his concept has a distinct advantage – the bookstore can serve as an exhibition for the book and its world, making the story come alive for customers. “For instance, when selling a book on flowers, in the store could be exhibited a flower that actually appears in the book,” he said. “Also, I ask the authors and editors to be at the bookstore for as much time as possible. This is an attempt to make the two-dimensional book into three-dimensional ambience and experience. I believe that the customers, or readers, should feel as though they are entering ‘inside a book.’”