Use of Books

Keiko went to see her parents a few days ago. They had lunch together and enjoyed talking about various things, e.g., politics, religions, and books. During the lunch, Keiko's father proudly said that he had got a present from her mom, i.e., two books worth 110,000 yen or about 1,100 dollars. He had found them at a book store in Jimbo-cho and thought their prices reasonable. He is a retiree and often goes to Jimbo-cho, a place famous for used or old book stores to find books about histories of piracy. He's been collecting such books and now has dozens of them. The two books are both about a history of piracy in some regions of Japan, but according to a friend of hers, who often buys books on the internet, are sold at 40,000 yen. Keiko asked her father if he had read these books. He said no. So, she asked him why he bought so many books that he didn't read them. His answer is "to read them some day." Keiko, who is a heavy Kindle device user and is not interested in physically owning books, can't understand what is so fun about collecting something without using them.