There was a book stall on the sidewalk in the center of Yangon

bookseller on sidewalk — Bookseller on the sidewalk

Since the spread of smartphones, there are fewer people reading books on the street in Myanmar. Still, I think people in Myanmar are basically addicted to the printed word. The fact that there are book stalls in the center of Yangon is probably proof that many people are still in search of the printed word.

I guess it is more appropriate to call it a kiosk than a book stall. A lot of books were lined up in front of the book stall. As a book lover, I was curious about what kind of books were popular in Yangon. I looked at the books on display and found that they were all written in Burmese. There was not a single book written in English. What a pity. Even if I bought one, I would not be able to read it.

The population of Myanmar is quite large, exceeding 50 million. With such a large population, the market for Burmese-language books is probably sufficient. Having failed to find any English-language books, I decided to change my perspective and observe the people who came to buy books. The book stall at the end of the sidewalk was unexpectedly prosperous. People came in and out of the stall. Many people seemed to be curious about what kind of books were on sale.

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