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The paper cover at the till
Buy a book in Japan and the bookseller will ask whether you want a cover, then fold a paper jacket around it by hand in a few seconds. It keeps the book clean and hides what you are reading on a train, which is the usual explanation. Bookshops are dense on the ground and reward browsing — 立ち読み, standing and reading, is tolerated within reason — and much of what is on the shelves is 文庫本, small cheap paperbacks reissued years after hardback.