車子走在京都的鹿ケ谷通，同行朋友突然喊停。「不如進去看看好嗎？」他指著沿街的一所小店，老舊的木房子，地面層的外牆卻被塗成現代化的灰，隱約可見到窄長的窗前，擺放著一輛木頭小貨車，還有幾塊積木，起初我還以為是一所玩具店。
這家名為Bild的舊物店，於去年年末才開幕了。不時路過此地，卻到今天才發現它，也不足為怪，因為它每周只在周日開放一天。像Bild的店主酒井先生，平日忙著正職，假日裡不吃喝玩樂，而埋首在鍾情的副業裡。
Driving along Shishigatani Doori in Kyoto, my friend, who was with me in the car, suddenly asked me to pull off. Pointing at a small shop on the street side, he said, “Why don’t we have a look in there?” The shop was inside of an old wooden house that had a contradictorily modern facade on the first floor that was covered with cement. Looking through the shops’ long and narrow window, I could indistinctly see a wooden toy truck and a few pieces of wooden building blocks. Looking at these, I thought this had to be a toy shop.
This shop named Bild is actually a second-hand store that was opened only towards the end of last year. Although I pass by this area often, I was never aware of the shop as it is open only on Sundays. During the rest of the week, Sakai, the owner of the shop would be busy with his full-time job. When it is Sunday, instead of taking a good rest, he would rather spend his time on his favorite side job.
Bild裡有很多好玩的東西，像在歐洲覓得的古老桌遊、發黃了的紙製蚊子拍、老舊的紙盒、紡織線的木芯⋯⋯但這些都不比店舖的建築物吸引。店舖分為兩層，但上層與下層相距的，只有數級的樓梯，可樓梯有兩道，一道能走通往上層的房間，另一道呢，連接著的卻是長年關著的門。這裡原址是一家牛奶商店，在冰箱仍不流行的年代，日本人會訂牛奶，就像每天收到報紙一樣，每天牛奶會有專人送上門。牛奶商店放置了牛奶的地方得保持乾淨，穿著鞋子的速遞員進進去去的話會影響維生，為了方便速遞員進去，便另設一道門，方便他們直接走到樓上的休息室。售賣舊物的，也珍惜老建築，酒井先生洽如其份地將這有趣的建築物結構保留下來。
最近發現，日本越來越多由年青人經營的、我行我素的商店了。設在杳無人煙的深山裡的咖啡廳、每天只開一天的舊物店，似乎都在展示著某種特殊的生存方式，在俗世與固我之間，他們尋得了一道罅隙，任他們以自己的節奏行走。
Bild is like a treasure box stuffed with interesting finds such as antique board game from Europe, paper-made swatter that has already turned yellow, old paper boxes and the wooden wheel of a thread roll. The biggest treasure of Bild is, in fact, the architecture itself. Although the two floors of the shop are separated by merely a few steps, they are connected by two staircases. One of the staircases leads to the second floor, while the other one leads to a door that is never open. This building was once a milk shop. Back in the days before fridge became a common household item, the Japanese would order milk from these shops. Milk would be delivered daily as they do for the newspaper. Sanitary is critical for milk storage, this could be difficult to maintain with couriers entering and leaving the room all the time. Considering this, the shop built another door that could bring the couriers directly up to the waiting room without going through the milk storage room. People who like selling old items are, usually, also keen on preserving old buildings. The way Sakai kept this interesting old building intact is a perfect demonstration of this attitude.
In recent years, I have been discovering more and more shops with a unique personality owned by young people in Japan. From the cafe in a hidden mountain to the secondhand shop that is only open once per week, these places all have their extraordinary way of operating. The young people have found an unlikely path between reality and passion. On this path, they ramble at their own rhythm.
