Gaze up at walls of books rising to the ceiling
In these libraries and museums, bookshelves climb almost to the ceiling, so you stand inside a wall of books on every side. Pick a book that catches your eye and read it at a seat nearby. Most books are in Japanese, so the space itself is the main draw, though art and photo books need no translation.
A museum whose Bookshelf Theater is a tall atrium wrapped in shelves about 8 meters high, rising through two floors around you. Some books on the lower shelves can be taken down and read, and at set times films are projected across the shelves. It is in Tokorozawa in Saitama, just northwest of Tokyo, and booking a ticket online before you go is the easiest way in.
A prefectural library in Kanazawa where round bookshelves rise in tiers around a large atrium, like the seats of a round theater, so you sit and read inside a bowl of books. It is a working public library, so keep your voice down. It is closed on Mondays, and Kanazawa is about two and a half hours from Tokyo by bullet train.
A city library in Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, where shelves run up toward a gently curved ceiling under wooden beams. A bookshop and a cafe share the building, so you can read with a coffee in hand. Takeo is about an hour by train from Hakata in Fukuoka, so it fits best into a trip around Kyushu.