Reading is Traveling.

One of the best parts of travel is stumbling across a souvenir that instantly feels like the one. At Keibunsha in Kyoto, ours turned out to be a tiny set of brass bookmarks.

Keibunsha is a charming independent bookstore in Kyoto’s Ichijoji neighborhood, but part of its appeal is everything happening around the books. The store regularly brings in work from artists, designers, and craftspeople, with a gallery and shelves filled with small-batch objects, paper goods, ceramics, prints, and Keibunsha’s own collaborations. You never quite know what you are going to find.

What caught our eye was the phrase printed right across the package:

READING IS TRAVELING.

It is hard to imagine a better phrase for Travelreads.

The bookmarks are a neat collaboration between Keibunsha and Traveler’s Factory, the Japanese company behind the Traveler’s Notebook. The brass clips themselves are simple and clever, each topped with the outline of an open book.

Small, useful, slightly quirky, and very easy to bring home.

Reading is traveling. We couldn’t have put it better.