Thank you for the information, but you didn't say which particular library
system that was. Also, I'm curious if they have any "controversial" English
books such as "Against All Enemies". A few more contextual questions:

Declan Murphy wrote:
<snip>
> closes at 5pm (too early for most working people), and when you add up
> all the holidays it is not open at all for about 75-80 days each year.

That doesn't seem so unreasonable? Given that 52 days are Mondays (or
holiday-offset Tuesdays), and 12 days are the monthly inventories, plus a
week at new years, that's already about 70 days. I remember a couple of
libraries that had two inventory days per month, plus special holidays, and
they must have been pushing 100 days per year. Recently it seems like the
days and the hours are both increasing? I didn't mention it, but the
Kawasaki library did extend their hours to 7 pm, and I think Sagamihara is
later than that.

<snip>
> I received a nice reply explaining budget limitations etc.

That's the part I dread... The last time I sent them some feedback, they
somehow figured out who it was, and though they didn't send a letter, they
were trying SO hard to be polite every time they noticed me wandering
around... Excessive politeness to the point of rudeness? Mayhaps.

<snip>
> Since you have web access, and presumably a Japan address, would it
> not make more sense to either read online or obtain your own
> subscription? That way the library wouldn't need to shell out, and
> people without web access or an address wouldn't have to wait for you
> to finish browsing the paper.

Actually, I do get most of my news from the Web, and that was mostly just an
observation. I often stop by the library when I'm running, and if a
newspaper is available, I'll scan it for a couple of minutes.

>> In addition, I personally think the Daily Yomiuri is better than the
>> Japan Times, and it would be good if you offered both.
>
> What is the difference between these two? I think Yamasa still has a
> subscription to the latter which we keep (or used to ) in the library
> here.

In terms of buying, the Yomiuri is much less expensive, though I'm rarely
motivated to buy a physical paper these days. Content-wise, I think there's
a slight advantage to the Yomiuri, though both of them are mostly printing
the same articles, almost word for word, and a day or two behind the Web.
For comics, I think the Japan Times wins.