What You Are Looking For Is in the Library

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the novel’s treatment of mental health topics including depression and anxiety.

Twenty-one-year-old Tomoka Fujiki receives a text from her high school friend, Saya, about her new boyfriend and his job. The friends have tried to keep in touch since Tomoka moved away from home to study in Tokyo. Their conversation makes Tomoka think about what jobs say about people’s characters. Tomoka works at a general merchandise store called Eden. The women in Tomoka’s womenswear department all must wear uniforms that project a welcoming image (9).

Tomoka goes to work at Eden one day, and her part-time coworker, Mrs. Numauchi, scolds her about taking too long on her break. Tomoka doesn’t like Mrs. Numauchi and thinks she takes the job too seriously. Tomoka returns to the floor after her break and helps a customer pick out a mulberry sweater. The woman is indecisive, annoying Tomoka. Tomoka doesn’t like her job, but it was the only offer she received after college. She accepted the position because she wanted to stay in Tokyo and didn’t want “to go back to the country” (12). Growing up, she always wanted to live in Tokyo and imagined a glamorous future in the city. Sometimes, she wonders if things will change for her in the future, and she worries that her friends from home think she has a more exciting life in the city than she does. She doesn’t have a boyfriend or hobbies, and she doesn’t know how to make things better for herself.

Tomoka runs into Kiriyama, an acquaintance who works at ZAZ, the eyeglasses chain at Eden. Kiriyama is the nicest person at work, and Tomoka enjoys talking to him. They start chatting, and Kiriyama reveals that he used to work at a magazine but quit because he didn’t want an office job anymore. Tomoka is surprised he would choose to work in customer service. He tells her more about how he found the ZAZ job and suggests that Tomoka look up the career website he used. He tells her to check out the Hatori Community House, too, if she needs help learning how to use computers.

That night, Tomoka researches the Hatori Community House and discovers all of the classes they offer. She signs up for a computer course and reports to Hatori two days later. Ms. Gonno leads the class. Tomoka is immediately thrilled with everything she learns. Afterward, Ms. Gonno suggests that she check out the community center’s library for more books on computers.

The library assistant Nozomi Morinaga greets Tomoka and tells her to talk to the librarian, Sayuri Komachi, about book recommendations. Komachi is stationed behind the reference desk, where she is needle felting. When she asks Tomoka what she wants, Tomoka thinks of everything she needs from life. Komachi prints out a list of book recommendations, including a children’s book, Guri and Gura. She then gives Tomoka a felted frying pan as a gift.

Tomoka takes her books and frying pan home. She rereads Guri and Gura, surprised to remember things about the story from childhood. In the story, two mice go into the forest, find an egg, and cook a castella, a type of cake. Tomoka continues reading, makes herself ramen, and takes a call from Saya. Saya is impressed by Tomoka when she tells her about her books, but Tomoka feels she’s being too nice to her. Feeling bad for not telling Saya the whole truth about her life and work at Eden, Tomoka listens to Saya talk about her boyfriend at length.

At Eden the next day, the customer from the day before confronts Tomoka about the sweater she sold her because it shrank when she washed it. Tomoka says she can talk to her boss, Mr. Ueshima, when he comes in for his afternoon shift. She cries after the interaction and races outside on her break. Kiriyama notices that she isn’t okay and offers her one of his homemade rice balls. She feels instantly better, and they resume their conversation about work. Kiriyama explains that he left his magazine job because he worked so hard and couldn’t even take care of himself. At ZAZ, he has more time to do what and live how he wants.

Tomoka returns to work and the customer is still upset about the sweater. Mr. Ueshima isn’t in, so Mrs. Numauchi intervenes. She calms the woman down, explaining the washing instructions and making sure she leaves happy. Tomoka is impressed and feels guilty for thinking she was an annoying coworker. Mrs. Numauchi encourages her, saying the job takes a while to learn.

At home, inspired by Guri and Gura, Tomoka looks up castella recipes online, buys ingredients, and starts baking. She feels proud of herself and cleans the apartment while the castella cooks. She reads her book at the same time, too. When she opens the frying pan lid, however, the castella is burned. She feels upset eating the burned lump, but then starts laughing and tells herself she won’t give up.

Tomoka makes and remakes the castella recipe daily for the next week. She changes her technique, trying to get it right. Finally, she makes the perfect castella and feels encouraged. She takes some of it to work the next day and shares it with Kiriyama. She also tells him about Guri and Gura, which he remembers differently than she does. Mrs. Numauchi has her own memories of the book, too, when Tomoka mentions it to her.

On Tomoka’s day off, she returns to the library and thanks Komachi for her book recommendations and the frying pan. Komachi insists it was nothing and that Tomoka did everything herself. Then, Tomoka notices the Honeydome cookie box where Komachi keeps her felting supplies. They both agree that Honeydome cookies are the best in the city. Afterward, Tomoka reports to her computer class. She doesn’t know what she’ll do next, but she thinks about Guri and Gura and tells herself she’ll figure it out.