Japanese craftsman skillfully restores old books
T
he damaged book that looks like it could be thrown away is going to get a second life. Nobuo Okano has been working for over 30 years in a rare profession of repairing worn-out books.
Nobuo Okano, book repairer said, "I restore and repair old books by hand. The books I usually fix are old books. They are precious to their owners or have been used many times, so the pages fall apart, and sometimes the front page gets worn out as well. Some owners feel bad about their beloved books being in such poor condition so they come to my workshop to fix their books".
This shop is close to famous second hand books market in Tokyo. Many people who buy old books here want to give their books a second life by bringing them to Okano's shop.
Some customers even come to learn the craft of fixing old books.
A customer said, "My book was old and damaged, so I felt sorry for it and wanted to fix it. I did some research and found out that the shop here teaches how to fix books, so I joined".
One of the many steps to repair a book is to unfold the pages and press them to original form.
This painstaking process shows just how much care is needed to repair a book. It takes a significant amount of time as the pages have to be pressed one by one.
The time it takes to fix a book varies significantly depending on the damage.
A book that is badly damaged can take up to several days or more to repair.
Books are very unique items because their contents are usually more important than their covers. When fixing old books, the craftsman pays great attention to giving the book even a better cover to make sure that the content is protected for many more years.
Nobuo Okano said, "When I repair books, I imagine the owner's feelings towards their beloved books, so I put all my effort to do the best job I can. And meet the customers' expectation as they hoped".
Precious books, no matter how badly damaged, can find a new life at this store.
✔️ Japanese craftsman skillfully restores old books
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