NABC Store Manager's Diary — July 21, 2026 (Tue)

Nagoya recorded a high of around 40°C — it's dangerously hot to go outside, but even today, though only a few, customers have dropped by. A young woman who had dyed her hair red came in. She looked through the shelves and bought a ZINE. When I asked where she was from, she said Onomichi! She's originally from Aichi Prefecture, but went to university in Onomichi, and now she's employed by an Onomichi ramen company and is working hard at the shop. She talked about her work with such enthusiasm, and we got excited talking about Onomichi. I was born and raised in Kure, but I've probably never eaten Onomichi ramen, so I asked, "What kind of ramen is Onomichi ramen?" She said it's basically just topped with a lot of back fat (seabura), and there isn't a strict rule about the broth. She works at the flagship store in the Onomichi shopping street, and recently their sales have been rising — apparently because they see customers all the way to the outside to send them off. Indeed, it's unusual for ramen shop staff to escort customers out, but if tourists happen to see that, it certainly leaves a good impression. Come to think of it, when I asked why she came to our shop, she said she had seen our storefront briefly in a short video by her favorite comedian and tracked us down. I immediately asked who the comedian was, and when I checked the video, our shop did appear, just for a moment! I was impressed — people do come in because of such little triggers. The power of a favorite is something else. After closing today, two people who want to hold a ZINE event in Mie came by, and we held a catch-up meeting at a nearby izakaya. When we first met last month I had suggested they reach out to the prefectural library and local libraries, and they promptly went to the prefectural library to propose it. The prefectural library said its budget for this fiscal year is already set and there will be renovations next year, so that would be difficult, but they asked if the two could hold an event involving students at a prefectural high school. I was surprised at how quickly things developed. After that, they were introduced to a high-school librarian, and when they went to talk, the librarian introduced their initiative at a gathering of librarians in the prefecture and also introduced local librarians who could help — things moved amazingly fast. Also, a new library had opened near the high school they visited, and when they went to see it they found a cafe that looked suitable for events. When they spoke to the staff, the cafe's owner came out, listened to their story, and agreed to talk to the city official to make it possible to hold an event. I was really surprised at the rapid developments. I cheered them on to first succeed at the event requested by the prefectural library (it seems to be a workshop) to build up a track record, and the report meeting ended. Oh, I almost forgot. The boss consulted me. It turned out a certain library-related magazine had asked him to submit an article on the theme of free papers and ZINEs. Since it's library-related, he suggested I write it, so I replied that perhaps the boss could write about free papers and I could write about ZINEs and that we could submit it jointly — let's ask them. I don't know what will happen yet, but if we end up writing it, it should be interesting.