Books After Dark: Taiwan's Eslite Bookstore (誠品書店)

A few years ago, a friend gave his best effort trying to impress me that Taiwan was a city that never sleeps when I was traveling there; he then went on and exemplified his statement by the example of Eslite Bookstore (誠品書店). To be honest, I was a bit disappointed when we visited the bookstore at 10 pm and found that there were not many customers around. I would say Mong Kok (a district in Hong Kong) is a place that never sleeps as it is still so crowded at late night - many shops and eating places still open and full of customers, people waiting in the queue for bus or minibus, numerous bars and clubs.
Having said that, I am glad to see Eslite is expanding its outlets across and outside Taiwan (a new one has just opened in Hong Kong very recently.) Due to the popularization of simplified characters all over China, Hong Kong and Taiwan might be the only two remaining regions which could still regard traditional characters as the primary Chinese characters, if Hong Kong is lucky enough to escape such policy of the mainland China. (The official Chinese characters in Singapore is simplified but traditional characters seem to be still common among the public.) It's always good to see more books printed in traditional characters lying around. Furthermore, it's a great opportunity to introduce more Taiwanese scholars and writers to Hongkongers and thereby fostering more frequent intellectual exchange between the two places.
Taiwan was a former Japanese colony between 1895 and 1945; the legacy could still be seen in the living style of Taiwanese. The minimal and natural style of furniture and decoration, the light color tone combination like brown and white, the close connection to the nature and green environment - all of which represent a sense of traditional Japanese style of minimalism and simplicity. This is especially evident in Taipei or attractions like Jiufen (九份). Eslite Bookstore, which is an essentially Taiwanese brand, also displays such Japanese elements of style and ambiance. Perhaps it would be unfair to claim that they are of 'Japanese' style as I believe Taiwan has transformed and developed its own style, albeit akin to that of Japan in some sense.
If you ever visit Taiwan, be sure to drop by the Eslite Bookstore to get a glimpse of the Taiwan's reading culture!