Natsuki Books, the novel’s central setting, represents a cultural sanctuary threatened by real-world economic forces that have reshaped the literary marketplace. The struggle of independent booksellers is a global phenomenon, and Japan reflects this trend. As data released by the Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture show, “[o]f the country’s 1,741 municipalities, 482 cities, towns and villages, or 27.7 percent of the total, had no bookstores as of March [2024], with the rate increasing from 26.2 percent in the previous survey in September 2022” (“Nearly 30% of Municipalities in Japan Have No Physical Bookstores.” Kyodo News, 27 Apr. 2024). As is the case throughout the world, this decline is largely due to competition from online retailers and a publishing industry increasingly focused on mass-market titles. In Japan, the decreasing population is another factor in the decline of independent booksellers.

The novel critiques this trend, particularly the publishing industry’s increasing focus on marketability, portraying Natsuki Books as a repository of literary heritage filled with classic but less commercially viable authors like Proust and Romain Rolland, whose works are “far from the current trend” (8). In the third labyrinth, the president of World’s Best Books, a fictional publishing giant, personifies the economic reality of the publishing industry. His governing philosophy is to “[s]ell books that sell” (124), prioritizing profit by producing disposable content such as “cheap digests and abridged versions” (125). His argument that masterpieces no longer sell because people want something “easy, cheap, and exciting” directly reflects the commercial pressures that squeeze out independent shops dedicated to curating literature for its cultural value (126).

By contrasting the soulless, profit-driven model of World’s Best Books with the loving care of Natsuki Books, the novel champions the idea that literature’s worth transcends its market value. Thus, the novel argues for the importance of preserving spaces that honor this principle.