ナゴヤブックセンター

Today the photo exhibition by kawaramachi (red-light district) photographer Beniko began. I usually start work at 1:00 PM, but today I pushed myself to arrive at 11:30. There were already a few people in front of the shop waiting for the second-floor gallery to open (12:00–19:00). Just after I arrived early, a customer bought a book. She was a young woman who purchased a ZINE. When I spoke to her, she said she had come to Nagoya from Sapporo for work. She gave me her business card, so I handed her mine. She told me she makes ZINEs with friends. One of the members of their ZINE group is a graduate of Handa High School, so I asked if they could place copies at our shop. It looks like we'll finally connect with ZINE creators in Sapporo. When the second-floor gallery was about to open, I looked outside the shop and—surprisingly—about twenty people were waiting! I called out at exactly 12:00, and they came up the stairs one after another into the exhibition space. The venue filled up in no time. After the flow of visitors to the second floor settled a bit, a doctor who lives in Nakamura-ku and whom I had connected with on SNS yesterday came by. I had asked if we could stock his self-published book, and he brought a copy right away. 　He turned out to be a friend of Mr. Hikoda, the speaker for the "Minna no Gan Kyoshitsu" (Everyone's Cancer Class) to be held on November 8 at Nakamura Library, Nagoya! How had we not connected until now? I asked why he hadn't come to the Shidami cancer class, and he said, "It's too far!" Indeed, going from Nakamura-ku to Shidami takes more than an hour. Still, I told him it would have been nice if he'd attended at least once. 　He is the director of Momoyama Clinic in Midori Ward. He is an internist, but he also provides palliative care and works as a yoga instructor, practicing what they call "social prescribing." His first book, Warm Words Change the World, will be displayed in a face-out stack at our shop. It explains how, as a healthcare professional, the power of words can help patients. 　He also has a middle school child who has recently been carrying out activities at school to communicate the importance of "warm words," so I asked if he and his child could hold a parent-and-child event at our shop. I hope to make that happen around spring break. The mother also bought one of my ZINEs. Today several people bought ZINEs — three copies sold in one day. Amazing. Beniko is present at the exhibition for the entire run, so many fans visited the shop. It was an incredibly deep day. Not only Beniko, but Mr. Watanabe, president of Kastori Shobo, was in attendance all day, and Mr. Hatano from the Tokai Yūri History Research Association (also known as Kotobuki) stayed for a long time. In the morning, Ritsuko, who will appear at the talk event on the 17th, came all the way from Osaka to visit. What a splendid lineup. The four ZINEs released by Ritsuko are being sold on the first-floor sales floor. As the sun was setting, Michelle arrived — she was on her way back from band practice. It was the first time I properly greeted her, so I felt very lucky. She took a photo of the four of us, including visitors who had come from Toyohashi and Toyota. Maybe she'll feature it on her SNS. It was truly an intense day. The exhibition continues tomorrow (Sunday), and the bookstore will be open. I plan to be at the shop by 12:00 when the exhibition starts.