Past Shop Diary entries

Thursday, October 22, 2026

Today I received a message that the business cards I ordered from Canva were ready, so I stopped by the pickup location, ACCEA Cafe, in front of Nagoya Station (Meieki) before coming to the shop. It's like a Kinko's–style store with a small cafe area attached. The place felt a bit cluttered, and although I tried the cafe, it was a little dark and cramped, so it wasn't very comfortable. The self-serve cafe I saw in the news (surprisingly run by a Nagoya company) seemed brighter and nicer. Being able to have things printed and pick them up with no shipping fee is very convenient. I'll keep using it. The flyers I had ordered from Printpac arrived at my home, so I brought them to the shop and folded them for distribution, but unfortunately I messed up the page imposition. I'll correct that next time. I should be more careful — falling into the habit of doing things sloppily is not good, but at my age I guess it's hard to change. The shop was quiet again today. I registered the newly arrived books, took photos and posted the arrivals on social media, and also announced an upcoming event. I wish we could get a few more participants. Lately I've been acutely aware of my lack of reach and have been wondering what to do about it. I also rearranged the display table to accommodate the weekend event and today's new books. In the evening a man came in, browsed the shelves slowly, and then bought a lot of ZINEs. He was someone who had visited about a year ago; when I talked with him I found out he was someone I had met at a meeting of the committee drafting Nagakute's lifelong learning plan. Come to think of it, I wonder what happened with Nagakute's lifelong learning plan. I had to stop attending the meetings halfway through because of poor health, so I felt bad about that. Still, since the municipal library and the community cultural center collaborated on exhibitions and events, perhaps I was able to be of some help in that regard. After talking about Nagakute, our conversation somehow turned to ankake spaghetti restaurants, and he told me about several places. I learned there's a famous shop within walking distance of my home or workplace, so I'll try to visit if I get the chance. I'm not great with peppery food, but maybe it's fate to try it again after more than ten years.

Wednesday, October 21, 2026

Today was Wednesday and my day off. It was surprisingly hot — around 30°C. In the afternoon I went to the pool wearing a short-sleeve shirt and shorts. As expected, there wasn’t anyone else dressed like that; most people were already in autumn clothes. I guess they must have been feeling hot, too. The store's printer finally stopped cooperating, so I couldn't print flyers for events anymore. I was wavering about what to do — distributing flyers might not be very effective, and paper and printer ink cost quite a bit — so instead of printing each flyer myself I decided to use Zindies’ “Upcoming Events” PDF feature to make a single A4 double-sided event flyer, which seemed cheaper. Right at that timing, though, the printer completely stopped working. I had no choice but to outsource the printing. I tried using a well-known service called Printpack, but my skills were a bit lacking so I had trouble submitting the files. After a few tries I finally managed to get the print order accepted, and it should arrive soon. I’m both curious and a little nervous about how it will turn out. Since it's inexpensive, I figured it's better for my peace of mind than fighting with the printer. If I absolutely need single sheets, I’ll print them at home with my cheap printer and bring them to the shop. While I was at it, I wanted to put QR codes on my business cards linking to Zindies’ store info and event page, so this time I made the cards in Canva as I always do. It’s really convenient — design in Canva and click the print button to submit the files directly. They also accept detailed correction instructions, so failures are rare (although the first time I printed, part of the QR code ended up obscured on the back and I didn’t notice before printing). The shipping to my home is a bit more expensive than Printpack, though. If that’s a problem, I can pick them up at an ACCEA Cafe for free shipping and they’ll usually be ready the next day. The café is near Meieki (Nagoya Station area), so I should be able to pick them up before work. As I was writing this, I actually got an email saying they’re ready! I’ll go pick them up tomorrow. 200 double-sided color cards for 800 yen. On the back I included a blurb and purchase information for the zine "This Library Is More Than Just Borrowing Books." I don’t have much sense for design, which is a shame. I’ll hand them out to people I meet.

Tuesday, October 20, 2026

It's very quiet in the shop today, unlike last week when Beniko's photo exhibition was held. On a normal day the register is used for only about three customers. We've returned to that everyday rhythm. Now that Beniko's photo exhibition has ended, I purchased a few copies each of the photobook "Beniko's Color-Town Travelogue, Vol. 3" and the series "Beniko's Color-Town Travelogue" that had been on display and for sale. Beniko kindly gave an autograph in one of the photobooks. Today I leisurely registered the purchases and put them into plastic sleeves. Customers trickled in. A couple from Berlin, Germany visiting Nagoya stopped by asking for English books, but unfortunately we don't carry any. Maybe I'll go to the International Center and pick up any multilingual Nagoya guide pamphlets they might have. Just after three, a former colleague from the library where I used to work came by. It's been a while—she looks more energetic than when we last met. We chatted a lot over tea at Cafe River. While we were talking she rummaged through her bag and took out a small folded booklet to show me. To my surprise, it was a folded booklet with many tanka printed in tiny type on copy paper. She had composed more than sixty tanka. I was amazed she had written so many. She also joined a nighttime uta-kai. I told her I'd buy the booklet and sell it in the shop, but she refused, saying she was embarrassed. I hope she'll let me sell it someday. In the evening we had the "Ekinishi Small Tanka Gathering" led by our regular customer and poet Chiharu. It was a modest meeting, but we were able to take time for careful critiques of tanka, which was both educational and very enjoyable. At the end, Chiharu passionately told everyone, "Buying and reading tanka collections carefully is a good way to study tanka." Indeed. Everyone, buy tanka collections and read them!

Monday, October 19, 2026

Today is my day off. I'm preparing the presentation slides for a lecture scheduled at the library in Kameyama, Mie Prefecture on November 3. Since my time as a librarian I gave several talks to librarians and people involved with libraries, so I thought about reusing the slides I made back then, but it's been a year and a half since I left my job as a librarian, so I wondered whether it would be appropriate to use the old slides unchanged. I wasn't sure what to do, so I decided to have AI — which is all the rage right now — generate some ideas. I fed it the slides I'd used before and the zine 'This Library Is More Than Just a Place to Borrow Books' in full. I also had it incorporate Kameyama City's policies and information about the newly renovated Kameyama City Library, and asked it to create a slide structure. I gave it many instructions (apparently called prompts), and giving prompts is very difficult. I even found myself thinking that the recent craze for 'verbalizing' things might be driven by prompts. Gradually the slides started to take shape. My previous slides tended to plaster event flyers from the Shidami and Moriyama libraries all over the slides as if to say, 'Look how great this is.' But that approach consumes time explaining the flyers, so I'm not confident my main points were getting across to the audience. I don't have anyone nearby to consult, and the AI ended up acting like a colleague or subordinate, which feels a bit strange, but I thought that creating slides with a different perspective provided by AI might be better than making them purely self-centered. I finished the slides and left them alone for a while, but as the lecture day approached I reread them and found expressions and a structure that felt off, so today I decided to revise them so they read more like my own words. I cut some slides, added new ones, and changed wording to version-up the slides. For now I'll leave them alone again for a bit. Event information is here: https://www.city.kameyama.mie.jp/library/article/2026093000015/

Sunday, October 18, 2026

Today was Sunday and the shop is normally closed, but because Beniko's photo exhibition was on in the gallery on the second floor, we opened. It was the final day of Beniko's exhibition. When the gallery opened, customers arrived one after another and went up to the second floor. There seemed to be a lot of single male visitors today. Some were first-time visitors, others were coming for the second or third time. I was at the cash register in the bookstore on the first floor, so I was watching the second floor on the security camera, and within half an hour of opening the place was already bustling with many customers. Kotobuki from the Tokai Yuri History Research Association also came by. Today Kotobuki was with a friend who studies brothels in Shizuoka. Of course this person also appeared to be an old acquaintance of Beniko and of President Watanabe of Kastori Shobo. Also, President Watanabe's family came from Tokyo—they had come to help with the teardown. The president's wife seemed to know everyone. They all looked like fellow researchers of pleasure quarters. A man who had been coming almost every day from out of prefecture turned out to be from Shizuoka, and everyone really seemed very close. A group of about five visitors also seemed to be from outside the prefecture. One of them bought a zine and spoke to me. They were all from Tokyo—perhaps members running a shared bookstore. They are currently near Sengawa Station but said they will move to Soshigaya-Okura. They are all Beniko fans and apparently organize group tours to see her exhibitions. Beniko's fans are truly enthusiastic. Because the gallery closed at 5:00 PM today, the event was two hours shorter than usual. After 3:00 PM the number of customers increased again. It seemed everyone was going to greet Beniko once more. Some people returned to buy merchandise that had been sold out, but it was sold out again. What a pity. However, Beniko will send the item later to that customer's home with her autograph. That's good. Customers kept coming until just before the 5:00 PM closing. Our president came to the store to attend the teardown, so I handed things over. I said goodbye to Beniko and to President Watanabe of Kastori Shobo and his family, and asked them again to hold another exhibition. At this exhibition, visitors not only came for Beniko's photos but also bought many books at the bookstore on the first floor. This is the first gallery event that has boosted book sales this much. Beniko's fans seem to love books. There are many familiar faces now! It makes me very sad to think that from tomorrow I won't be able to see such passionate customers anymore. I strongly felt that we need to stock the store in a way that will bring these customers back even after Beniko's exhibition ends.

Saturday, October 17, 2026

Today I took a day off from the bookstore and went to Shiojiri City. "Everyone's Cancer Classroom" is a program I worked on when I was a librarian — creating places for cancer education in libraries. It started about six years ago at Shidami Library in Moriyama Ward, Nagoya, and not long after it began to be held at the municipal library in Enpark, Shiojiri City, Nagano Prefecture. Later, Nagoya City Moriyama Library, which is also in Moriyama Ward like Shidami Library, began hosting the program on alternating months with Shidami. This initiative is run in collaboration with libraries by Kanako Hikoda, who organizes the Cancer Philosophy Outpatient Medical Café "Shachihoko Memorial." "Everyone's Cancer Classroom" is held once a month at either Shidami or Moriyama Library. As of this month (October 2026), it has reached its 55th session. I was involved with "Everyone's Cancer Classroom" from the start until I retired from the library last March. The program exists and continues because of Kanako Hikoda's passion. She has many colleagues and supporters; among them is Hiromi Oguchi, who runs a peer-support group in Shiojiri called "Cancer Support Omusubi." Oguchi came all the way from Shiojiri to the first session in Shidami, and afterward spoke passionately about wanting to bring "Everyone's Cancer Classroom" to Shiojiri. I gave her the Shidami Library event flyer and encouraged her to propose it to the wonderful Enpark library in Shiojiri. Thanks to Oguchi's efforts, "Everyone's Cancer Classroom @ the Library" was first approved as a trial program at Shiojiri Library and from the following fiscal year began to be held regularly. There are essays by Oguchi and Hikoda about the project in the ZINE "This Library Is Not Just for Borrowing Books," so please have a look: https://sheepsheepbooks.stores.jp/items/693c12d9029af1c7671e372a There was a reason I visited the Shiojiri session after such a long time. Last November I was invited by the staff of the Minamisoma City Library in Fukushima Prefecture to talk to their staff about the initiatives at Shidami and Moriyama libraries. At that time I asked the Minamisoma librarians not to just listen and let it end there — since I had come all the way from Nagoya, I urged them to definitely turn it into something concrete. I half-expected nothing would come of it, but to my surprise I heard this fiscal year the Minamisoma City Library decided to hold "Everyone's Cancer Classroom" as well. The Minamisoma librarians planned to visit Shiojiri's session to observe as part of their preparation for hosting the program. When I heard that, of course I couldn't not go from Nagoya to Shiojiri. I wasn't a librarian anymore and hesitated at first about participating, but in the end I shamelessly decided to show up. Information about Enpark Shiojiri Library's "Wholehearted Cancer Classroom" is here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Dei-1JGk7JG/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&rpxt=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== So, I plan to visit Minamisoma City Library again on Sunday, March 14 next year.

Friday, October 16, 2026

Today we had a variety of customers visit the shop. That said, the majority were visitors to Beniko's photo exhibition in the second-floor gallery. The first-floor Cafe River and the book section were quiet, a marked change from yesterday. Still, two people returning from a business trip who were about to board the Shinkansen bought three ZINEs and said, "I'll read them on the Shinkansen on the way home." A young woman in a kimono and zori, carrying a large suitcase, came to see Beniko's exhibition. When we took her suitcase at the register and talked, she turned out to be Kokeshi Tomita, who travels the country—visiting farming villages and hot-spring towns—playing a single shamisen. She's an itinerant performer. What a surprise. Meeting all kinds of people is one of the great things about Beniko's photo show; I'm very grateful. We were closed Monday and Tuesday, and over yesterday and today I've been preparing some new events; three of them are now public. I'll add links later. By the way, Aeza stopped by for the first time in a while—also to see Beniko's photo exhibition. Aeza once worked as a lighting assistant at a strip theater in Gifu; she wrote about that time in an essay and published the ZINE "Odoru Gekijō" ("Dancing Theater"). Her ZINE "Angura Tanbōki" (a survey of underground venues) is also popular. (Aeza's profile is here: https://zindies.co/aeza?locale=ja) Published events: Book release commemorative event for The Struggles of a Discarded Evening-paper Reporter: A Personal History of the "Nagoya Times" (Fubai-sha) — Crime and Society: A Reporter’s Recollections 2026-11-13 (Fri) 19:00–20:30 https://zindies.co/events/353?locale=ja Nagoya Station West Tanka Reading Group — Featured book: Haru Mizumachi, Second Poetry Collection "Only Those Who Cried Alone on the Way Home Feel the Warmth of the Moonlight" 2026-12-04 (Fri) 19:00–20:30 https://zindies.co/events/348?locale=ja Talk & Workshop: What Is a Third-party Response? — From the Perspective of "Yasashii Nihongo" (Easy Japanese) and the Idea of "Kindness" 2026-12-11 (Fri) 19:00–20:30 https://zindies.co/events/350?locale=ja We have one more event currently in planning. I'll let you know once it's confirmed. For other upcoming events, please see: https://zindies.co/fqpi/events?locale=ja

Thursday, October 15, 2026

I took Tuesday and Wednesday off, and returned to work for the first time in a while. I was surprised to find that ZINEs and books were selling more on the days I was away than on a normal day. Yesterday a customer apparently bought a lot of poetry collections, songbooks, and literary doujinshi, and I was shocked when I checked the sales. I wish I had been there to greet them. Today there were also many visitors coming to Beniko's photo exhibition, and in the afternoon visitors kept coming almost without pause. It hardly felt like a weekday. I realized how many fans she really has. Among them are customers who come almost every day, and each time some of them buy books on the first floor; today when I recommended a book, they purchased it. I'm truly grateful. I myself rarely get to the exhibition space, but today I found time to go up to the second floor and tried a ¥1,000 gacha. I won a third‑prize noren! It featured a design of Kadoebi, a high‑class brothel that represents Yoshiwara. I'll hang it in my room. I was able to talk with Beniko a little in front of the gacha. She said she went to the famous Nagoya cabaret Hanazono yesterday and had a great time. While we were talking, a male customer nearby seemed to be a cabaret expert and gave us various tips. I've never been myself, so I didn't know anything. It was educational. Later, while I was talking about that at the downstairs sales area with a woman who was visiting Beniko's photo exhibition for the second time, she said she had never been either and suggested we go together, which surprised me. Since it's hard to go alone, it would be fun if it happens. A male customer who came after that also seemed like a cabaret expert and taught me a lot as well. It seems everyone goes. As it got dark, two young women came in wanting to look at free papers, so I showed them around. When they came back down later I spoke to them and they said they were art university students who had an assignment, perhaps for a seminar, to make a ZINE, so they had come for reference. I told them to look at our ZINE shelf before they left and introduced various ZINEs. I also mentioned the Endoji "Hon no Sanpo Michi" happening this month and a foreign ZINE specialty shop in Shinsakae, which made them happy. I waved them off saying, "If you make a ZINE, sell it here, okay?" I hope they do their best. Beniko's photo exhibition really draws many dedicated visitors, and many of them take an interest in the book section and buy books on the first floor. I've never seen a gallery exhibition like this before. I'm truly grateful. Most visitors are coming to our store for the first time, and many tell me they'll return to the bookstore, which makes me happy. I'm a bit sad that the exhibition ends on the 18th.

Monday, October 12, 2026

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.

Sunday, October 11, 2026

Today and tomorrow are holidays, but because the gallery is holding a photo exhibition by red-light-district photographer Beniko, the bookstore section is open as well. It's short hours, though — we opened to match the exhibition schedule, from 12:00 to 19:00. Even so, my shift ended up being a bit longer than usual. This morning, before the exhibition opened, there was a walking tour around the site of the Nakamura Yūkaku, and after that Beniko and the others came to the shop so we opened just in time at noon. It wasn't as crowded as yesterday, but customers kept coming in all the way through the evening aiming for the exhibition. There were a lot of female fans who said things like "I'm so glad you held the show in Nagoya!" Many people met Beniko and left with happy faces. One customer even asked me directly, "How did it come about that the exhibition is held at this shop?" — I'm glad local fans in Nagoya were so pleased. Not only fans from Nagoya and Aichi, but two different customers came from Chiba Prefecture. One couldn't make it to the Tokyo exhibition, and the other is such a devoted fan that they'll go anywhere in the country if there's an exhibition, whether in Tokyo or Nagoya. There were also visitors from Shizuoka and northern Gifu. Since Cafe Kissa River was closed today, the bookselling floor was relatively quiet, but sales were fairly good. One customer bought all four of Ritsuko's zines (she's appearing at the talk event on the 17th), and others bought books related to the yūkaku and the west side of the station — and as a kind of souvenir? they also bought our shop's can badges. Around 3:00 pm, Chikura, a Zindies member and developer, dropped by. He was hard to pull away from the register, so we couldn't talk at length, but we discussed ideas to make the shop more appealing to use and to increase the number of shop registrations. By the way, a picture book that rarely sells usually has been selling — one yesterday and one today (one is on hold). The title was The Elephant Train Arrived. It was really surprising to sell two copies of the same picture book in a row; that's very rare in our store. This book was introduced in the Chunichi Shimbun not long ago, so perhaps someone who read that article bought it. I'm glad we had stocked two copies. I had thought it might take a year to sell. A young woman who visited the other day came back. Last time I invited her to a Keigo Higashino reading group, and she bought the first volume of the assigned book The Swan and the Bat; today she said she'd finished the first volume and came to buy the second. I'm grateful. She also got to see the gallery exhibition. I'd be happy if she joined the Higashino reading group. A regular customer who works at the local library and is interested in yūkaku research also visited. She highly recommended and purchased a copy of Dr. Akiko Fujita's new book Warm Words Change the World that we had just stocked yesterday. I hope we can arrange some kind of event with the author's local library. While talking with a customer who came from Gifu for the exhibition, I learned that Jun Ikeido is also from Gifu. I had no idea! According to the customer, he may be from Yaotsu Town in Kamo District. I immediately ordered the talked-about book — I wonder if it will sell. I hope it does. Since the number of visitors to the second floor was many times the usual today, I'll clean the stairs after closing when I have time and then head home.

Saturday, October 10, 2026

Today the photo exhibition by kawaramachi (red-light district) photographer Beniko began. I usually start work at 1:00 PM, but today I pushed myself to arrive at 11:30. There were already a few people in front of the shop waiting for the second-floor gallery to open (12:00–19:00). Just after I arrived early, a customer bought a book. She was a young woman who purchased a ZINE. When I spoke to her, she said she had come to Nagoya from Sapporo for work. She gave me her business card, so I handed her mine. She told me she makes ZINEs with friends. One of the members of their ZINE group is a graduate of Handa High School, so I asked if they could place copies at our shop. It looks like we'll finally connect with ZINE creators in Sapporo. When the second-floor gallery was about to open, I looked outside the shop and—surprisingly—about twenty people were waiting! I called out at exactly 12:00, and they came up the stairs one after another into the exhibition space. The venue filled up in no time. After the flow of visitors to the second floor settled a bit, a doctor who lives in Nakamura-ku and whom I had connected with on SNS yesterday came by. I had asked if we could stock his self-published book, and he brought a copy right away. 　He turned out to be a friend of Mr. Hikoda, the speaker for the "Minna no Gan Kyoshitsu" (Everyone's Cancer Class) to be held on November 8 at Nakamura Library, Nagoya! How had we not connected until now? I asked why he hadn't come to the Shidami cancer class, and he said, "It's too far!" Indeed, going from Nakamura-ku to Shidami takes more than an hour. Still, I told him it would have been nice if he'd attended at least once. 　He is the director of Momoyama Clinic in Midori Ward. He is an internist, but he also provides palliative care and works as a yoga instructor, practicing what they call "social prescribing." His first book, Warm Words Change the World, will be displayed in a face-out stack at our shop. It explains how, as a healthcare professional, the power of words can help patients. 　He also has a middle school child who has recently been carrying out activities at school to communicate the importance of "warm words," so I asked if he and his child could hold a parent-and-child event at our shop. I hope to make that happen around spring break. The mother also bought one of my ZINEs. Today several people bought ZINEs — three copies sold in one day. Amazing. Beniko is present at the exhibition for the entire run, so many fans visited the shop. It was an incredibly deep day. Not only Beniko, but Mr. Watanabe, president of Kastori Shobo, was in attendance all day, and Mr. Hatano from the Tokai Yūri History Research Association (also known as Kotobuki) stayed for a long time. In the morning, Ritsuko, who will appear at the talk event on the 17th, came all the way from Osaka to visit. What a splendid lineup. The four ZINEs released by Ritsuko are being sold on the first-floor sales floor. As the sun was setting, Michelle arrived — she was on her way back from band practice. It was the first time I properly greeted her, so I felt very lucky. She took a photo of the four of us, including visitors who had come from Toyohashi and Toyota. Maybe she'll feature it on her SNS. It was truly an intense day. The exhibition continues tomorrow (Sunday), and the bookstore will be open. I plan to be at the shop by 12:00 when the exhibition starts.

Thursday, October 8, 2026

Today I received packages for the first time in a while: back issues and the new issue of Taido Tanka that I ordered the other day. I was notified that they were being carried on X, so I hurriedly ordered the out-of-stock copies. Although it's called a new issue, it looks like it was released around the summer — I missed it, and I'm sorry about that. Issue No. 7 also features many distinguished tanka poets. A truly luxurious volume. In connection with Beniko's photo exhibition starting Saturday, I also stocked books related to the yūkaku (licensed pleasure quarters). Kohaku Bunko's Jigoku no Hangyakusha: A Collection of Yūkaku-Related Works by Takako Matsumura also arrived. I ordered it without knowing much about it, but Matsumura was from Osaka and apparently worked as a shōgi (prostitute) in the Nakamura yūkaku. Afterwards she escaped the yūkaku with companions and became active in the movement to abolish the licensed prostitution system. I think both of the books that arrived today will enrich our store's selection. Please drop by and take a look.

Tuesday, October 6, 2026

Before coming to work today I stopped by Fubaisha, a publisher in Osu, and picked up some new releases. I got to the store a little after 2 p.m. Oh — I realized I hadn’t set up the cash register for tonight’s reading-group event, so I arranged that. Since a photo exhibition by the 'irogai' (red-light district) photographer Beniko will open in the second-floor gallery this weekend, I decided to rearrange the books on the display tables. I moved the books about yūkaku (former licensed pleasure districts), which had been on the small table in front of the register, to what you might call the main display table and the face-out display stand, and I moved the Nagoya tanka poetry collections that had been on the main display and face-out stand to the table in front of the register. I think both areas are much easier to browse now. I also moved some ZINEs that had been on the face-out stand a little to the face-out stand by the window (like the magazine racks near the store front) and placed another set inserted into a regular bookshelf. The downside of inserting them spine-in is that many ZINEs don’t have titles on the spines, so it can be hard to tell what’s where. With the number of ZINEs we carry increasing, it’s unavoidable for now, but I’d like to figure something out eventually. After I changed the shelves and registered the books that arrived today, a customer came in right away. She’s a woman who’s been coming in often lately and is interested in yūkaku topics. She’d bought a book about the yūkaku the other day — and today she bought another one. Thank you! In the evening a young woman who looked like a high school student came in. She was looking at the tanka display I’d moved and bought Perspective by Shuta Fujii. When I asked if she was a high school student, she was — it turns out she lives in Chiba and has taken a year off from high school. This summer she worked for a month at a mountain hut in the Central Alps, and she was on her way back; returning to Chiba would cost money, and since she had a holiday coming up she was stopping by Nagoya and taking a night bus to her next destination. I noticed a large backpack in the corner of the store. She was very cheerful and seemed adventurous. She likes writing poetry and has recently become a fan of artists who perform poetry as rap. I thought she was a serious book lover, and since she still had time before her night bus I invited her to join the casual reading group that starts at 7 p.m. Just then the reading-group organizer Tete came in, so I introduced the student. It was a walk-in, but it looked like it would be a fun session. Picture-book author Yukako also joined the reading group. For the theme “a book that changed your life,” of course everyone assumed it would be a book by Noran Nijino. I was on the lower floor and couldn’t participate in everything, but I could hear everyone’s cheerful voices from the second floor from time to time. When I went up to the second floor midway through, the high-school student was introducing a book — Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. She’s into SF! I introduced a recent SF short-story collection I enjoyed, In the Town Where the Sunlight Disappeared. This was Tete’s second reading group, and it was another enjoyable meeting, so I asked Tete to run the next one as well. It looks like we can hold it in January.

Saturday, October 3, 2026

After September's long rains, October has arrived with consistently nice weather as if the wet spell were a lie. Customers finally seem able to go out, and today feels like a busy day at the shop. When I came in for my afternoon shift, some ZINEs had already sold in the morning — off to a good start. The one that sold was AZ's 'Nagoya Bookstore Tour: Northwest Area Edition.' It's a long seller at our store. Perfect for this season. A customer from Iwakura stopped by. The last time I saw them was when we had drinks with members of the Iwakura Library Study Group at a kushikatsu place in front of Nakamura Park a little while ago. She came to drop off two books her mother had written. Her mother apparently worked on social issues in Nakamura-ku; they're local history materials for Nakamura Ward. The daughter herself had recently read the first volume of Tadashi Ota's 'Cafe Utrillo, West of Nagoya Station' and loved it, so she bought volumes 2 through 6 all at once. Thank you very much. A young man came in carrying lots of tanka books to the register and asked, "Do you remember me?" Huh? It turned out to be the high school student who previously bought Haru Mizumachi's 'Lightly Sparkling Tanka'! He'd gotten a bit more grown-up; when I asked, he said he's now a university student living in Yokohama. He'd come to buy Mizumachi Haru's new book 'Only Those Who Cried Alone on the Way Home Feel the Moonlight's Warm Glow,' but our shop is due to stock it next week, so I was very sorry. I told him it would probably be available at bookstores in Yokohama; he said he often returns to Nagoya and will come again. I was moved (tears). He bought a lot of poetry collections. His university doesn't have a tanka club, so I suggested he start one himself.

Friday, October 2, 2026

Today was another fine day. The sky feels high, but the late-summer heat continues. I came in at 1:00 PM as usual and checked the sales; a ZINE had sold in the morning! I'm very grateful. A zine creator who makes picture books — someone I met at last month's ZINE event at Kusamura Books — visited the shop. I had an appointment email from them, but I missed it; I'm sorry about that. We talked a lot about ZINEs. Next time she'll bring two of her works so I can purchase them for the store. A woman who had visited about a month ago also came in. She is interested in the yūkaku, and we talked at length again. She bought a ZINE as well. I've been reading related materials recently, so I was glad I could talk in more detail than last time. She wasn't able to attend the recent Nakamura Yūkaku (Nakamura red‑light district) lecture, so I recommended the second session in November, but unfortunately it's already fully booked. From 7:00 PM there was a tanka reading group. The featured book was Shuta Fujii's "Perspective." Remarkably, Fujii himself came all the way to Nagoya to participate. Thank you very much.

Thursday, October 1, 2026

Fine weather for the first time in a while. I thought it would be a clear autumn day, but it turned out hot—more like lingering summer heat. When I arrived at 1:00 PM, there was already one customer at the register. Nice. A young man came in. He was looking at the red-light district/pleasure-quarter corner, so I mentioned, 'We're holding a photo exhibition by Beniko from the 10th,' and he said he'd just seen that on social media and came because of it. He bought a lot: zines by Kotobuki and others, a new book by Harumi Kato, and Fubaisha's Kanraku no Nagoya. Thank you very much! In the evening, a young woman stopped by. When I spoke to her, she said she had come to Nagoya from Fukuoka for a live show. She lives in Hakata and told me there are only large bookstores there and hardly any small independent shops, so I introduced her to Books Cubrick in Hakozaki. She also told me how Tenjin has changed recently. I might take part in Fukuoka's Bun-Fri next year. Speaking of which, a young man on a business trip from Tokyo came looking for Gekkan Nagoya at my shop—his mother had asked him to find it. We have a specialty area for free papers called ONLY FREE PAPER on the second floor, so he may have found it online. But we don't carry that magazine, and the cafe's owner hadn't heard of it either, so I did a bit of digging: it seems to be a booklet distributed mainly through long-established restaurants. Unfortunately none of the nearby places distribute it, so I couldn't give him a copy to take home.

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

Today was the last workday of September. Sales were so-so. I was happy that ZINEs and a songbook sold. A new owner moved into the shared shelf space and came in today to set up their shelf. A married couple who have traveled abroad a lot each make a ZINE of their travel diaries. One of them likes seals; the other likes skeletons. From 7:00 p.m. there was a book club. Our regular, Chiharu, organized it; the theme was cookbooks. I was the only participant, so it was a one-on-one session. We each brought a cookbook that means something to us and talked about it. Since smartphones appeared, people might buy cookbooks less often, but popular chefs always exist regardless of the era. The discussion ranged from life in childhood to life after starting a family. The cookbook book club runs deep.

Saturday, September 26, 2026

Today we had two events, at 2:00 PM and 6:30 PM. Last night, after the evening "Yūnagi" song gathering, I was doing the venue setup, but the 2:00 PM event, "Intro to the Nakamura Yūkaku for Beginners — Session 1," had sold out its 35 seats, so I came in a bit earlier to leave myself some margin since handling registrations alone would be tough. A package from Nippan (book distributor) had arrived; when I opened it, it was the book I had ordered by phone the other day — Hitsuji Shobo's "Living in the Yūkaku / Remembering the Yūkaku" by Harumi Kato! What timing. I'm glad it arrived in time. The lecturer, Kotobuki (SNS name), also arrived; we set up the laptop and projector and checked that the screen displayed correctly, then I went back down to the first floor. After putting the extra copies on the shelf and settling down, participants began to arrive little by little. By the start time I went up to the second floor and it was nearly full. No wonder the register was busy. Because we announced the venue as the second floor, some people occasionally go up the stairs without checking in at the counter. We need to make sure to tell people to register on the first floor in advance. Today the seat count and register sales didn't quite match, but after the session someone who had bought a book also paid their participation fee at the counter, so that was a relief. I proposed this course and asked that the theme be an introduction to the yūkaku. People tend to have fragmentary images of yūkaku but probably haven't learned about them formally, and there aren't many easy-to-read introductory books, so without guidance they often view yūkaku through a kind of retro-romantic lens. I wanted to start from the basics. I think it's wrong to feel a sense of "retro romance" about a system that is part of the sex industry and that monetizes women's sexuality to drive the economy. I hope that learning the history of the Nakamura Yūkaku will provide an opportunity for deeper reflection. As a bookstore manager, I was a bit relieved — the register was as busy as I've ever seen after a lecture, perhaps the best single-day sales for related books. That's all thanks to the lecturer, Kotobuki. Thank you. For the second session on November 28 there were still seats available before today's lecture, but by tonight it's already nearly full. After the course ended, Kotobuki and I discussed plans for a third session. I'll announce the details once they're decided. The other event today, at 6:30 PM, was a lecture to commemorate the publication of Shinichi Ikeo's book "Children on Provisional Release: Targets of 'Japan First'" — Ikeo is an editorial writer for the Tokyo Shimbun. He spoke about the reality and problems faced when children born and raised in Japan who only speak Japanese are suddenly deported with their families to their parents' countries because of their parents' residency status. How should we view the fact that Japan, which has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is ignoring "the best interests of the child"? The children appearing in this book seem to have their rights neglected. It's not that it doesn't concern us because they are foreign children — friends who were in the same classroom or club yesterday can be suddenly detained by the authorities and put on a plane. That's unbearably cruel. It cannot be said to be in the "best interests" of the child. When I worked as a librarian I provided children's services and worked on multicultural services, but I feel I should have learned more about the situations and challenges faced by foreign-national children who are the targets of those services. Between the two events, the popular tanka poet Soichi Chigusa stopped by the store! I had him sign his new collection "April Zōshi." I spoke with him a little; he said a relative once had a business near the Asahiro brothel in the Nakamura Yūkaku. I'd like to hear more about that story. That said, holding two major events in half a day was exhausting. I'm not as young as I used to be, so I need to think about that a bit more. But I don't want to miss opportunities.

Friday, September 25, 2026

Since yesterday my dizziness has come back after a long time, and this morning I had a mild dizzy spell before leaving for work, so I was about an hour late. Maybe it's a blood pressure issue. If my wife finds out she'll tell me to cut back on drinking (though I haven't been drinking much lately), so I swayed my way through an explanation of "it's nothing" and went to work. Today Yasuko Higashiyama, a writer who lives in Seto City, stopped by the shop, but because of that situation we just missed each other. I was hoping to get her to sign her new book. Maybe next time. A stylish man came in. He said he's been creating spaces through video and books and has recently set up a base in Fukuoka. On his way back to Fukuoka he searched Google Maps at Meieki (the Nagoya Station area) for bookstores that handle zines and found our shop. Lately I've been hearing that kind of story more often from customers. According to Chikura, the developer of Zindies, they've made it so AIs can find places more easily, so it might be thanks to AI. Tonight is the "Yūnagi" poetry gathering by poet Miyako Asai. I'll report on how it goes later.

Thursday, September 24, 2026

I was about to write yesterday's entry, but lately I forget things so quickly. I often get mixed up about which day a customer visited. The books I ordered for this weekend's event finally arrived after a lot of trouble, so I'm relieved. Because we were closed every day during Silver Week except Saturday the 19th, a few other deliveries arrived today. The books that usually sell well still haven't arrived. A new book by ICC Director Akane hasn't come in either. Director Akane is from Nagoya. Even if it doesn't sell much, I'd like to have at least one copy on the shelf. It almost feels like I'm setting up a local history section at a library rather than running a bookstore. There are three events tomorrow and the day after, and it looks like about fifty people in total will participate. I thought distributing flyers for our event might get some responses, so I tried to print them, but the printer acted up again. I've never seen a printer like this before. To be honest, printing and handing out paper isn't very cost-effective, so I'm tempted to stop doing paper notices altogether. But maybe it's because some customers prefer paper, and it's a shame if we can't hand them out. I might print them at home, but I don't want to pay out of pocket. Maybe I can expense the copy paper and ink. While I had some free time and was thinking about various things, a young woman came in. She was intently looking at the ZINE shelf, so I spoke to her and she told me she and some friends are planning to make a ZINE. She usually writes novels but hasn't published them anywhere, including online. She wants to try exhibiting at a ZINE event and release one to coincide with it. She seems to live in Nagoya, so I gave her a business card and asked her to bring it by if she can. I hope she does.