NABC Store Manager's Diary — July 25, 2026 (Sat)

Today I came in a bit before noon, about an hour earlier than my usual start time, because there was a lecture event at 2 PM. When I arrived at the shop, the owner had already turned on the air conditioner in the event space (the second-floor gallery). The room had been set up yesterday, so all that was left was to set up the microphone and speakers. The temperature had started to cool, so maybe we'd manage despite the heat wave. Shortly before 1 PM, Mr. Yamamoto, the journalist I had asked to MC, arrived. I had him wait at the café River where I had reserved a seat—and to my surprise Professor Shindo, the lecturer, was already in the café! He must have arrived while I was in the back by the register. I immediately did a quick pre-event briefing with Mr. Yamamoto. As participants gradually arrived and registration at the counter got a bit busy, Zindies member Jizo came by! I only received the newly printed pamphlets from him and didn't get a proper chance to talk—I'm sorry about that. Because the event was on a Saturday afternoon it overlapped with the café's busy hours, and things were a little hectic. As it neared the start time, customers from the second floor came down saying the air conditioner wasn’t working! I rushed upstairs and found the AC running, but the seats near the windows were indeed hot. I went back to the first floor, grabbed the circulator we use at the register, brought it upstairs and set it up. Then I put the ceiling AC on swing. When it's on swing you can see it moving, so customers can tell the AC is operating. Still, it was hot. Our second-floor gallery has an entire west wall of glass doors and no curtains, so the late sun pours in. There was nothing we could do today, and it stayed hot, but since the literary market next Saturday will have many more people we need to do something about those windows. Local and prefectural assembly members also attended the lecture! As expected, Mr. Yamamoto's connections are impressive. Professor Shindo's passionate message reached the participants, and the Q&A in the latter half became an animated exchange. At the end there was a signing of the professor's book. The new copy we had prepared at the shop—and all the previously published books—sold out. After seeing the professors off and tidying up the venue a bit, I returned to the bookstore register and a young woman came in. I thought she might be a café customer, but she bought a tanka ZINE. When I asked, "Do you write tanka?" and we talked, it turned out she had come to Nagoya from Tokyo as a tourist. She had only just started writing tanka, so I introduced her to song collections by Nagoya poets. I told her to try visiting Heiwaen the next time she comes to Nagoya. Also, a customer who had reserved a signed copy of Mr. Kuroken's new book came in. Surprisingly, this person was also from Tokyo! They had come to Nagoya just to buy Kuroken's signed copy. When I told them we had recently held a talk event with Kuroken, they said they had wanted to attend but couldn't because of work. I mentioned that we are planning a mystery-solving game event with Kuroken before the end of the year. In the evening a very lovely young woman visited. She said she came introduced by Konatsumuri. (It turned out during our conversation that she is actually married.) She draws with colored pencils and has published a picture book with a local publisher; she showed it to me. The illustrations and story were very cute, and her colored-pencil technique was careful and beautiful. She met Kona at an event, had visited Kusasou Books in Moriyama, and at a large ZINE fair found and purchased my ZINE "ここは本をかりるだけじゃない図書館"—she showed me a copy covered in sticky notes. She told me, "Reading this, I realized there are such kind libraries." I told her I had already left my post, but that the initiatives at Moriyama Library and Shidami Library are continuing, and asked her to please visit them.