NABC Store Manager's Diary — September 19, 2026 (Sat)

Before going to work I stopped by the independent bookstore Lbio in Kita Ward. A book market organized by the owners of the shared shelves was underway. Familiar zine creators were selling their work and everyone looked happy. Yodaka Some, who would be holding a poetry reading at my place that evening, was also vending there, and I worried a little whether they'd be okay since they had an event later that night. On the way home I unusually decided to take the bus; I went to the stop and boarded a bus bound for my destination, but it turned out to be a circulator that took a huge detour, so I got off at a stop near the subway (not my actual destination) and somehow made it to work on time. Riding an unfamiliar route is a bit fun. After arriving at the shop, two zine creators visited. One was Iyo, who specializes in horror. They delivered their new zine, Sunlight. The cover was eerie and scary lol. The other was Nando Nezumi, a public-bath (sento) researcher. They brought flyers for an event. My shop doesn't accept flyers left freely, but I can insert them into zines or hand them to customers who might be interested, so I took a few. From 7:00 pm there was Yodaka Some's event "Poem Reading," a program in which Yodaka reads their own poems aloud. Yodaka had asked me to read as well, so they told me in advance which poem I would read and I practiced reading it at home. When I worked at the library I used to read aloud thousands of folktales and poetry collections (I started that during the long periods at home in the COVID-19 pandemic), so it had been a while since I read aloud. Contemporary poetry was difficult, but after reading it several times I began to feel myself entering Yodaka's poetic world.