NABC Store Manager's Diary — August 28, 2026 (Fri)

Work day. First, I stocked a ZINE artbook by sumi-e (ink-wash) artist and Buddhist monk Yu Hasegawa — https://www.instagram.com/kannonji81/?hl=ja Apparently they once aimed to be a manga artist and even worked as an assistant. Their drawing skills are incredible; the ink paintings of warriors and horses are especially powerful. Yu is the deputy head priest at Kannonji in Tsushima and is very active with live painting and solo shows around Tsushima and Ama City. Please do take a look at the ZINE. Mr. Ueno, the creator of the Shakespeare karuta "Saō Hyakunin-ikku" (an original karuta collecting 100 memorable lines spoken by characters from Shakespeare's works), stopped by with additional copies plus a delivery note and invoice. It's great for lovers of world literature and for board game fans as well! There was no sample copy in the shop, so he agreed to bring a sample that shows the contents next time. This afternoon I went to the shop again. At 2:00 pm the ZINE creators Saki and Shiori — together known as "SakiShiori" — visited, and they even had a ten-month-old baby with them! I read a picture book to the baby right away. I had asked them for additional ZINEs, but one of the three items sold after I asked, so we couldn't secure a replacement for that one — my apologies. They will bring it next time. Their visit today was to discuss holding a reading-event at our shop. It looks like it will be a somewhat unusual book-club-style event. Once their plan is finalized, we'll announce it. Stay tuned! I've had terrible rhinitis since this morning, basically a flood of a runny nose. I need to go back to my hometown of Hiroshima and Kure for a memorial service starting tomorrow, so I decided to leave early to visit the ENT clinic today. Yesterday I went to get blood-pressure medication; today I'll pick up medicine for the rhinitis. It's nothing serious, so please don't worry.