NABC Store Manager's Diary — October 12, 2026 (Mon, Public Holiday)

Today was a public holiday, and NAgoyaBOOKCENTER opened in conjunction with Beniko's photo exhibition. We opened at 11:00. The exhibition was on its third day, and the gallery doors opened at 12:00 as usual. I thought there might be no one waiting before the doors opened since it was the last day of a long holiday, but from the moment we opened visitors kept arriving one after another without a break. It only calmed down around the evening. I don't know the exact number of visitors to the second-floor gallery yet, but bookstore sales were better than yesterday and about the same as the opening day, so I assume the gallery was busy too. There are people who come every day and some who come every other day, so we're starting to recognize faces. Many of our customers are women; the gender split feels about even or with slightly more men. I had to open the building's shutter myself today, so I arrived at work at 11:00. For the first time in a long while I made a bento (in a soup jar) from yesterday's leftover dinner. I hadn't made a bento for about two years since my librarian days, so taking the soup jar down from the shelf felt nostalgic. Around 3 p.m., the poet Haru Mizumachi visited the store! She kindly signed her recently released second poetry collection, "The Moonlight Warms Only Those Who Cried Alone on the Way Home." When I invited her to do some kind of book-release event, she accepted right away! I'd like to hold it before the end of the year — I'll announce the details once they're decided. Please look forward to it! A woman at the register asked if I was Mr. Fujisaka, which surprised me. She said she was friends with those people from Iwakura — I was shocked. She is also a fan of Beniko, and when she told her friends that Beniko's photo exhibition was in Nagoya they said, "That shop is an interesting place — you should definitely go," lol. With about 30 minutes left until closing, a young woman came in carrying two thick books to the register. When I greeted her, it turned out she was one of the authors of the recently published "Gifu: Walking the Textile Town." We had a nice conversation about Kyoto bookstores, her research, and her own book. Since her book wasn't distributed through the usual channels, I'll contact the publisher on my next workday. Near closing time, a stylish middle-aged man was browsing the face-out table and shelves. I paused my closing tasks to wait on him, and he bought my zine "This Isn't Just a Library for Borrowing Books," plus another zine about the red-light district. When we spoke I learned he'd visited a year ago and is a school librarian who has since changed jobs and now works in social welfare in Moriyama Ward. He said he'll read the zine because it describes initiatives at two libraries in Moriyama Ward — I'm really grateful. In the end, the purchases by those last two customers made this the second-best sales day of the month. Since I worked on Sunday and Monday (the holiday), I'll take the next two days off. It was a very intense and very enjoyable three-day holiday. It's all thanks to Beniko, the photographer of red-light district photos. Thanks also to Mr. Watanabe of Kastori Shobo. Beniko will be in attendance through the final day on the 18th, so if you have time please come by.