NABC Store Manager's Diary — August 6, 2026 (Thu)

Today's event was a talk by Hisayuki Arai, who has worked for many years as an editor at Shinchosha. Arai originally came from Kyoto University's mystery club, and people like Ayatsuji were a little senior to him. He told us plenty of stories from the time when those mystery-obsessed students joined Shinchosha's editorial department — for example, episodes involving Ryūichi Tamura, the poet who was editor-in-chief of Hayakawa Mystery; anecdotes about Takashi Tachibana; his meeting with the then-young writer Kōtarō Isaka and how that led to publication; and, more recently, stories about Tomoya Sakurada, author of last year's much-discussed The Lost Face. We heard lots of stories you can only hear here. What a luxurious time! But I'm still disappointed we ran out of time and couldn't hear his stories about Masashi Sada. I'd like to invite him again next year to hear the rest and get an update on any new works. Thank you very much, Mr. Arai!