A young woman visiting for the first time bought a LiD/APD zine created by people with lived experience. When I asked, she said that both she and her husband sometimes have trouble understanding speech, especially in noisy places. They didn't know the reason and were a little troubled. Since she was from the prefecture, I introduced the people-with-lived-experience café “Hinata-bokko” held at Moriyama Library. Mr. Ando, formerly of the Chunichi Shimbun, dropped by. He gave me a copy of a book published by Nagoya's one-person publisher YuiPoot: "Hold Me Tight Now — Twelve Years with Whole-Body Cancer: Ai Kanai's Happiness." Dr. Takamasu from Kanagawa Children's Medical Center came by. The Japanese Society of Pediatric Clinical Allergy was being held in Nagoya, and he stopped in at the shop. In the evening was the first meeting of the “Ekinishi Yuunagi Tanka Gathering.” I also participated and submitted tanka in advance. It was my first time attending a tanka gathering; hearing everyone's critiques and impressions was very educational. I learned that the Kodansha-published book "Children on Provisional Release: Targets of 'Japanese First'" has been receiving good reviews. I did a little research and found that the author, Mr. Ikeo, seems to be from Nagoya. I quickly friended him on social media and greeted him — it turned out he is from Nakamura Ward! So I'm planning to hold a talk event at our shop in the near future. Stay tuned!

　I've lost count of how many times I've written this, but Touch Collection continues to go through trial and error. There are days when I feel like I might be out of ideas, but there's a part of me that wants to believe it's getting better little by little. 　Some people are waiting after receiving only the cards, so we'd really like to find a breakthrough. We'll keep doing our best.

I live in a small rural town in Ehime Prefecture. I'm trying to put the things I like into words, and I mainly write essays. -------------------------- ○ Past ZINEs A zine made by an author who loves socks and wanted to talk about socks ◻︎ “Kutsushita wa Nansoku Atte mo Ii” (2025) A record and essays of a 3-night, 4-day stay in Nagoya without sightseeing ◻︎ “Kurashi o Hirou, Jibun o Amu” (2026) ------------------------ ○ Past events where I exhibited ・Bungaku Flea Market Hiroshima 7 (2025.2) ・IKAZAKI Craft Fair (2025.3) ・IKAZAKI Craft Fair (2026.4) ・ZINE Fest Nagoya (2026.5)

This is the second installment of Henri Ohara and Ruko's love-of-reading talk. The two unabashed book obsessives will once again gush about their passion for reading — from the one book that hooked them, to favorite authors, when and where they read, their reading histories, and recent recommendations. Chances are you'll start looking at the unread stacks in your room with new fondness! A signing will be held after the talk.

As expected, with events on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and not getting home until after 10 p.m., at my age the fatigue built up, so I slept until past noon today. I ended up lazing around at home without stepping outside even once. It was that kind of day, but I was able to finish the final checks for the event scheduled for October 24, so I completed the flyer.

On Wednesdays the store manager usually has the day off, but today I came in because there is an event tonight. I have taken tomorrow (Thursday) off. Here is the event: "Creating a society in which books still reach those who need them 10 years from now" — Mr. Yuji Tanaka, who has worked widely at Bungeishunju as a weekly magazine reporter and in marketing, will investigate the current state of bookstores and discuss with participants the future of bookstores as seen from that investigation—

My new business cards are finished. They've finally been made to match the current site design. I can't wait to hand them out to people. I'm excited.

NAgoya BOOK CENTER's Fujisaka contacted me to say the Zindies business cards had arrived. I was happy when he complimented them — “They're cute.” My own business cards haven't reached me yet, so it doesn't feel real, but I hope they printed well. Separately, the pamphlet I ordered the other day arrived at my home. It's on slightly thin matte paper with a cream-colored background, and its presence feels a bit newspaper-like. I think it's fine as it is, but I wanted to see a different version, so I ordered one printed on another type of paper. Unless I mail them, these kinds of business cards and pamphlets are always handed over in person. Through ZINEs I've come to appreciate real, face-to-face communication, and maybe I've updated myself a little because of that.

Since I had been off since last Saturday, I came in at lunchtime and first checked the sales for Saturday and Monday (the shop is closed on Sunday). I was happy to see that ZINEs sold a lot on both days (by our standards). I was a little disappointed — if I had been working I could have talked with customers. Today, just after 1:00 PM, the red-light-district photographer Beniko visited the shop! She came to check the venue for the photo exhibition planned for October, in line with her shooting at the Nakamura yukaku. That's right — we'll hold Beniko's photo exhibition in our shop's second-floor gallery in October. Stay tuned! In the evening from 7:00 PM was the first meeting of the “Relaxed Reading Club.” This was organized by a customer, Tete, and it was the first time this reading group was held. This time we didn't set a specific theme; we asked participants to tell us about books they recommend. Actually, this was only the second time Tete and I have met! Tete attended the talk event on May 28 with Henri Ohara and Ruko, titled “Two Book-Otaku Talk at Length,” and after it we talked. I learned that Tete is quite a voracious reader, and there was a mood to try a reading group, so I invited them. Although it was Tete's first time hosting, including Tete the reading group had 10 people, and a wide variety of books were introduced. I think such a large turnout was thanks to Tete's reach and personality. Because we didn't pick a theme, books from many genres were introduced, which was very stimulating. I reflected that my own reading range is a bit narrow. Since so many books were introduced, we ran out of time and it would have been nice to discuss each one more deeply. Tete and I talked about ways to make next time more suitable for deeper discussion. For now, we're planning to hold the second session in October.

　Today I made and submitted a pamphlet for Zindies. Ever since we switched to the new design (though that was actually months ago), I hadn't made a pamphlet to match it, so I finally bit the bullet and did it. 　I think it turned out pretty well. It's a bit self-congratulatory, but I can't wait for them to arrive.

　Zindies has accounts on various social media platforms, but we haven't been updating Instagram at all. That's because if posts are only screenshots and notices about new features, they can get ahead of the understanding of the people who use them and leave only a feeling of frustration. 　That doesn't mean we're going to delete the account; rather, we're thinking about what kind of posts people can actually take away from when they see them. 　Sorry — today was just a musing without an answer yet.

A ZINE festival held in Kanazawa. It will take place on March 7, 2027 from 11:00 to 16:00 in the multipurpose room of the Kanazawa Workers' Plaza. Around 120 exhibitors are expected, and admission is 500 yen. Photography may occur at the venue and could be posted on social media. Information for exhibitors—such as applications, rules, and meeting times—will be provided.

Hand-bound / Poetry collection / A sequence of 30 poems Placing an unshaking smartphone on my chest, attempting cardiopulmonary resuscitation With both hands held like a prayer I type the letters, and a bird's shadow falls on my cheek The 'love' in Fight Club that wanted to hurt as much as it was hurt — that love is violence Even the sea somehow knows: the light that has your shape is overexposed The human body has organs shaped like a butterfly, and sometimes water lilies bloom *There are two types each of cover (yellow, pink) and interior pages (pink, light blue). The content is the same. A5 size / 12 pages

Wrapped in a blanket and sleeping, Yura looks dead from a distance. She is like a pupa. Yura will become someday. Each time the man she dates changes, my 'cute' easily changes its shape. Everything ends up changing. I think that changing is pain. Even though everyone is already different from four years ago, they hide it and play house. You can't kill someone with a curse, but brandished righteousness sometimes kills people. I'll study even if I'm not told to. The Easter lily is not a weapon. Includes six short stories about things that change and things that don't. A6 bunko size / 96 pages

Ever since anyone could found a country simply by making a Declaration of Nationhood, I, he, and she decided to create a country in this room.\r\n\r\n— Opening of 'Declaration of Nationhood'\r\n\r\nAlso included are five stories in total: 'Frozen Room', about the hundred years shared by me, who failed my university debut, and Hagino-san, whose first impression was perfect; 'The Light Between', about naming and acceptance; 'Trivial Talk', a password among my mother, my sister, and me; and 'RESERVED', which rewrites the worst reservation.\r\n\r\nA6 bunkobon size / 76 pages

Debut poetry collection themed on loss and rebirth. Phantom Limb Pain / Only Light / A Life That Is Base, Cultured, and Slightly Unhealthy / Vows Resemble Prayers / She / Beautiful Things / Water-Soluble / Once / White Dog / end roll Includes the ten pieces listed above. A5 square format / 28 pages

A healing poetry collection. As a Vessel / Supple Memory / Translucent Bone / Tilde / August / Butterfly Effect / Cloudy Aquarium / Crystallizing / Moth-eaten / The Sea of Moscow Contains the above ten pieces. A5 square format / 32 pages

I write novels and poetry as a way of living. My circle is Saraba Dotoku. I have a booth at the shared bookstore Bookbridge Lbio in Nagoya (Shelf No. 31). ｜Novels / Poetry / Tanka｜Online shop: https://store.retro-biz.com/profile_o912.html

"Koko wa hon o kariru dake janai toshokan" (This Library Is Not Just for Borrowing Books) — the first edition, third printing — is almost out of stock. At this timing, we're planning to reissue it with the content largely unchanged but with different typeface and sizes. We've set ruby (furigana) throughout, but because some readers find the ruby visually noisy, we're reducing the number of lines per page and the number of characters per line so that full ruby is easier to read. We tried a gothic (sans-serif) font. I thought a UD font might be good, but I heard gothic can be easier to read, so I'm trying gothic this time. Because the number of characters per page has decreased, the total page count has increased by about 20 pages compared with the first edition. As pages increase, production costs go up a little, so we're changing the paper for the main text. The higher production cost itself isn't a huge problem; I'm more worried that the thicker spine and added weight will increase shipping costs when sending copies to bookstores, for example. With the first edition I could send five copies in one Click Post, but with the increased thickness and weight I may only be able to send four or three copies per Click Post. That said, sales are no longer high enough to justify bulk shipments, so maybe it's not something to worry about too much. Even if the page count and production costs rise somewhat, I will not change the current selling price of 2000 yen, and I don't plan to change the terms for selling to bookstores. Formally it will become a second edition and its appearance will change, but we won't know what it will look like until it's produced, so I ordered just three printed-and-bound copies this time. They should arrive in a little over a week, and after seeing them I'll place the main order. Professor Noguchi from Aoyama Gakuin University will visit the shop on August 1 for a talk event, and I'd like to unveil it then — but I wonder if it'll be ready in time.

From Saturday yesterday until Monday tomorrow I'm off. Yesterday I attended a lecture at the Moriyama Lifelong Learning Center given by a local historian who helped me when I was working at the library. Back when I was at Shidami Library I hadn't done much with local history, but after I also became director of Moriyama Library I built more connections with the members of the local history study groups, and I finally began to feel the history of Moriyama Ward as something close to me. At the lecture I was happy not only to meet the local historian again after a long time but also to see an "adopted disciple," a first-year junior high student, so I'm glad I got up early to attend. He is scheduled to be the instructor for a class at Shidami Library in August, so I plan to attend that as well. I had intended to relax at home all Sunday morning, but because the ZINE creator 染よだか, who will be the instructor for the events planned in August and September, and I finalized the event title at a recent meeting, I designed an SNS flyer in Canva today so we could start announcing it and registered the event on Zindies. After all, the August event will be held on the 4th, so there is less than a month left. We need to start announcing early. The August 4 event is titled "染よだか　おやつもぐもぐうたかい," a gathering where everyone eats snacks while reading tanka and chatting. The September event will be held on Saturday the 19th under the title "染よだか　詩を読む会," where 染さん will read her poems aloud. Shortly after the August tanka gathering was opened to the public, one person signed up, which was great.