What Is The Mariko Aoki Phenomenon?

[image description: a woman with curly hair looking directly into the camera and holding an open book over her mouth and nose.]

There are all kinds of myths and folklore around books, reading, and bookstores, but when I heard about the Mariko Aoki phenomenon last week it was a new one to me! And because I’m actually a 12-year-old boy trapped in a 30-year-old woman’s body, I still laugh at fart jokes and hope you’ll think this is as funny as I do.

In 1985, a woman named Mariko Aoki discussed the sudden urge to poop upon entering bookstores in an article in a Japanese book magazine. After the article’s publication, the editors received multiple reports from readers saying the same thing happened to them. Given the number of reports, the experience became known as the Mariko Aoki Phenomenon.

Mariko’s article wasn’t the first time someone had drawn the connection between entering bookstores and suddenly having to poop. It had apparently been something of an urban legend in Japan previously but hadn’t been taken too seriously until the magazine article. I imagine this is because the name of the magazine literally translates as Book Magazine, which has an authoritative vibe.

Apparently, there have been some attempts to verify the phenomenon but it’s mostly been informal research by entertainment TV shows, curious college students, and further self-reporting to magazines.

One of the reasons I find this phenomenon funny is because people reported having to poop if they were in the bookstore for a long time. But wouldn’t you eventually have to answer nature’s call if you were anywhere for long enough?

Some have speculated that the phenomenon could be due to an anxiety disorder. Which, I guess if bookstores make you anxious, could be an answer. Maybe if you’re worried about trying to look smart? Bookstores are places of relaxation for me, but I understand that not everyone feels that way. The only time I’ve ever been anxious in a bookstore is when I either wanted way more books than I could afford (and let’s be honest, that’s every time) and the one time I went to a bookstore that was in a converted mansion/schoolhouse and got lost in its 32 rooms. But neither of those things made me have to poop.

From the Wikipedia article on the phenomenon: “The novelist Jiro Asada has said that the strength of the symptoms are proportionally related to the size of the bookstore and the degree of difficulty of the books he is looking for.” That could track with the anxiety theory.

According to the reading I’ve done on the phenomenon, the urge doesn’t occur in libraries, but nearly every librarian I know has found a steaming pile in the stacks at one point or another, so I’m sure they’d beg to differ. From what I understand, this is so common it’s practically a right of passage among librarians.

There’s a theory that the smell of paper, especially old books, stimulates the defecation urge. The question I have is this: If the Mariko Aoki phenomenon is real, then wouldn’t people who own a lot of books poop more? I feel like I can’t weigh in on this objectively because we have hundreds of books in the house and Mr. Off the Beaten Shelf has IBS. Coincidence?

To that end, another quote from the Wikipedia article: “Shinichiro Namiki, a researcher of paranormal phenomena, held that this theory is difficult to sustain since (i) symptoms are not observed in workers at places such as printeries or bookstores and (ii) symptoms can occur at places unrelated to the smell of books, such as rental video stores.” Maybe people who work around books all the time get used to it? Almost like going nose blind?

Anecdotally, while I haven’t personally experienced the phenomenon, every time I’ve been in a bathroom at Barnes & Noble it’s been beyond repulsive, which leads me to believe the Mariko Aoki phenomenon is more common than we may think.

There’s a lot to unpack here and there are many, MANY more theories I didn’t even touch on. So what I want to know, if you’re comfortable sharing, is have you ever experienced the Mariko Aoki phenomenon?