On Friday the 7th of July 2017, we threw a big birthday bash to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of our Sydney store!

In attendance were about a hundred of our closest friends and extended family from the book and publishing industry, as well as other partners and stakeholders who all play a huge role in making us who we are today.

Thank you all for coming, we had an absolute blast!!

We were also extremely honoured to have some very special guest speakers on the night. The Consul-General of Japan in Sydney, Mr. Keizo Takewaka and the CEO of the Australian Booksellers Association, Mr. Joel Becker, both gave really lovely and warm addresses to the crowd.

Mr. Keizo Takewaka, Consul-General of Japan in Sydney

Mr. Joel Becker, CEO of the Australian Booksellers Association

And we were so excited to welcome back to our Sydney store Mr. Yukihiro Kawakami, who was here when we first opened this store way back in 2002 and who served us as Managing Director until 2008. Thank you Kawakami san for making it all the way here from Singapore!

Mr. Yukihiro Kawakami, Managing Director of Kinokuniya Bookstores of Australia (2002-2008), current Group Managing Director of Kinokuniya Pacfic Asia

To wrap it all up, our fearless leader and Managing Director, Mr. Yusuke Kawai gave his heartfelt thanks to guests and staff and launched the celebration with the ceremonial cutting of our birthday cake.

On the evening our guests were treated to some very special live music, featuring our very own Tristan providing enchanting harp music as they arrived, and the Kino band, Illogy, taking the party into the night with an instrumental set.

With a gorgeous spread from Salt Meats Cheese, delectable savoury pastries from Black Star Pastry and Choya Kamikaze cocktails to enjoy, we all had a pretty good night eating and drinking, too!

But the star of the evening was definitely the Moichi Birthday Cake created by Baked by Andres based on original artwork of Kino’s spirit animal and mascot by Charles Santoso!

Thank you everyone for making it a night to remember… See you all again when we turn 21!

Check out more photos in our Facebook album!