A vacant store [1] has raised its shutters to transform itself into a children's picture-book library and breathe new life into a shopping arcade that is struggling to survive.

The Rangaku Domukan library in Rangaku-dori street in Mibumachi, Tochigi Prefecture, is the brainchild of a local merchants association comprising 30 stores that line the street. The library's design is based on the look of rental-book stores common in the late 1950s and early '60s.