Today's event was a talk by Hisayuki Arai, who has worked for many years as an editor at Shinchosha. Arai originally came from Kyoto University's mystery club, and people like Ayatsuji were a little senior to him. He told us plenty of stories from the time when those mystery-obsessed students joined Shinchosha's editorial department — for example, episodes involving Ryūichi Tamura, the poet who was editor-in-chief of Hayakawa Mystery; anecdotes about Takashi Tachibana; his meeting with the then-young writer Kōtarō Isaka and how that led to publication; and, more recently, stories about Tomoya Sakurada, author of last year's much-discussed The Lost Face. We heard lots of stories you can only hear here. What a luxurious time! But I'm still disappointed we ran out of time and couldn't hear his stories about Masashi Sada. I'd like to invite him again next year to hear the rest and get an update on any new works. Thank you very much, Mr. Arai!

I was off today, but I went to check out蔵六湖畔, a share-style book café that opened about an eight-minute walk from Osu Kannon Station.

There are three events this week! Today was the first one: 「染よだかさんのおやつもぐもぐうたかい」. This event came right after the literary marche on the 1st where 染さん also took part—thank you for your efforts. This uta-kai was a casual gathering where we enjoyed the snacks 染さん brought and chatted while sharing impressions of tanka. There were as many as six participants (eight including 染さん and me)! Just talking about the poems everyone brought made the 90 minutes fly by. I was glad so many different people joined. We're planning a second meeting in November, so please look forward to it.

Today, starting at 12:00, the 4th Nagoya Ekishi-West Literary Marche was held, with seven people exhibiting. Because it was an extremely hot day, the venue was, unsurprisingly, hot and the exhibitors had a hard time. I'm thinking that from next year we should probably stop holding daytime events in the height of summer. Despite the heat, visitors kept coming, and there was an atmosphere where people could talk at leisure, so I think the exhibitors were able to interact with each other and with the customers who came. I don't often have the chance to meet so many creators at once, so it was a good opportunity to mingle. It was enjoyable, and new event ideas came up as well. In the evening, there was a shift to a library-related event. We welcomed Professor Takego Noguchi of Aoyama Gakuin University's Library and Information Science department, and I took part in a (somewhat presumptuous) conversation with him. The theme was 'reading barrier-free.' We based the discussion on 'Koko wa hon o kariru dake janai toshokan' (This Isn't Just a Library for Borrowing Books), which summarizes various initiatives I worked on during my time at the library. It was a low-key event, but many people gathered and Professor Noguchi seemed to really enjoy it. He gave the pleasant comment 'Let's do this again,' so I hope we can hold the next one somewhere around Tokyo.

Question the conventional wisdom about how we work! Based on research findings (evidence) from researchers around the world, why not reassess the "ways of working" we consider common sense? We will welcome Goryu Sato, a health economics researcher and full-time lecturer at Keio University, who recently published "The Science of Working" with Diamond Inc., to hear him speak.

We released a feature that lets creators generate portfolio PDFs. It also integrates with convenience-store print services such as Lawson and Famima (i.e., convenience stores other than 7-Eleven). You can generate a QR code on the site and print by scanning that QR code at the convenience store. The integration with convenience stores had been in place for a little while, but I wasn't satisfied with how the actual portfolio PDFs came out and remade them several times. I built it by analyzing data from works registered on Zindies, with conditions such as: creator and work descriptions (excluding extremely long ones) can be fully included, the layout doesn't look bad, and it fits on a single A4 sheet as much as possible. Because it's based on Zindies' pop design, some works might not suit it, but I think it meets the need for quickly creating something. After I wrote an article on note, I received a comment saying someone had used it right away, which made me very happy. I'm glad we made it.

The official website of イマZINE. It provides event information such as an overview, volunteer recruitment, guidance for vendors, and calls for participants for the novel-writing workshop (じゃれ本).

The story of publishing a tanka collection after only two months of writing tanka. This is the making of "SF Tanka: Proof of Teleportation Delay." I created it to encourage various people to try making their own books.

An anthology of short tanka that feel like tiny 31-character SF stories. From time paradoxes to convenience stores in space, it depicts everyday life in the future filled with humor and poignancy. === [Five Selected Tanka] The new time machine's warranty has its expiration date left blank In the hospital room, restoring a backup, my mother became a fifteen-year-old girl A white nape microchip that holds your past and all your lies Buying cookies at the Venus service area — they're probably from Earth anyway There is no Pluto anymore, is there? Earth is gone too — that gives away my generation === [Profile] Satoh Komori Born in Gifu Prefecture. Tanka poet and Cray-Pas (oil pastel) artist.

A jam-packed collection of my favorite sketches that I drew and saved in the little gaps on trains, buses, trips, and the like! 208×130cm / Cover 4P + Interior 16P / Full color

ZINE Fest held in Matsue, Shimane. Date and time: December 6, 2026, 11:00–16:00. Venue: Matsue Tersa, 4th-floor main conference room. Admission: 300 yen. Around 50 exhibitors are expected. This is a community-style doujinshi/ZINE event that provides information on exhibitor applications, booth specifications, and participation rules (including the possibility of photos being published, genres prohibited from sale, move-in regulations, and non-refundable exhibition fees).

　This week I was teaching a programming class at a university, so Zindies took a break. 　I don't feel like I rested at all — I'm actually exhausted — but for Zindies it ended up being a completely inactive week. 　It looks like it will be a little while before things resume.

After the event on the 25th, we were closed on Sunday and Monday. Sales this week have been really low, and I'm blaming the heat and the heavy rain. This weekend — tomorrow — there are two events, and it's also the opening day of a new nearby hotel. They're setting up a small library (shelf) in a corner of the hotel, and we delivered about 60 books from our shop. Because the hotel's concept is train carriages and rooms, we selected books focused on trains around central Nagoya, neighborhood walking guides, and the culture and history of the Mikawa and Owari regions. This evening the hotel staff came and they filmed an interview with me and took photos. It looks like they will be published on the website and social media. Just before closing, a man who came in gave a somewhat exaggerated comment: 'I didn't know there was a place in Nagoya that conveys culture.'

We mourn the recent passing of Keigo Higashino, a celebrated mystery novelist with ties to Aichi. Let's talk about your favorite works by Keigo Higashino. Those who are planning to read his works for the first time are also very welcome. The organizer is Kenji Kuroda, a Mephisto Prize–winning author and a big fan of Keigo Higashino.

Drinking is a way of knowing a city. When you drink in Osaka's downtown, you sometimes end up listening to strangers' life advice. You walk into a place you hadn't planned to visit, drink something you hadn't planned to drink, and before you know it you've lost your reason to go home. This book is based on countless experiences of walking, drinking, and getting drunk in Osaka's downtown, including Juso, and reflects on "Five things you need to get completely plastered in Osaka's shitamachi." Buy tomorrow's bread, then drink tonight. Don't exit the ticket gate at Juso. Don't trust 'just one skewer' of kushikatsu. Keep updating your 'I can walk home from here' judgment. And don't make excuses to go bar-hopping. This is not a manual on drinking. Maybe it's a guide to being swallowed by the city.

Born in Aichi Prefecture, currently living in Osaka Prefecture. Graduated from Doshisha University. While working at an IT company, I undertake a wide range of activities based in Osaka (Juso), such as music production and bar‑hopping. I'm good at creating improvised games and writing about drinking and walks. On Instagram I pretend to introduce cafés while actually making jokes. (Favorite things) Long-distance walks, pigeons, standing bars, IPA, mugi soda (barley soda), white wine, regional cities, manzai, Future Bass, kayōkyoku (Japanese pop tunes), Nico Nico Douga, small festivals, butcher's croquettes, Unzen ham, jokes

I arrived in Kyoto. Work doesn't start until tomorrow, so I first visited Saibundō (彩文堂) to pay my respects. I was a little relieved to hear that authors can communicate through Zindies. I left our new pamphlet and information about the new service refeel. Today wasn't an event per se, but a publisher had a corner in the shop to introduce books, and I was able to give a brief explanation of Zindies. The ZINEs on display at Saibundō are of a high level. I wondered if this is what it means for books to shape a shop. After that I went to an event called ZINE Square Kyoto held at Miyako Messe. Being the first time, I had hoped it would feel different from BunFuri (文フリ) or ZINE Fes; although it was smaller than those, there were about 60 exhibitors. I marked promising items in the sample corner and visited the booths. I bought ZINEs that included things like product design book reviews. There were some I couldn't buy because I didn't have cash on hand, but I thought Zindies might help as a tool for follow-up. I hadn't attended ZINE events for a while, but I was reminded that being on-site is important to understand what authors and readers want.

Today I came in a bit before noon, about an hour earlier than my usual start time, because there was a lecture event at 2 PM. When I arrived at the shop, the owner had already turned on the air conditioner in the event space (the second-floor gallery). The room had been set up yesterday, so all that was left was to set up the microphone and speakers. The temperature had started to cool, so maybe we'd manage despite the heat wave. Shortly before 1 PM, Mr. Yamamoto, the journalist I had asked to MC, arrived. I had him wait at the café River where I had reserved a seat—and to my surprise Professor Shindo, the lecturer, was already in the café! He must have arrived while I was in the back by the register. I immediately did a quick pre-event briefing with Mr. Yamamoto. As participants gradually arrived and registration at the counter got a bit busy, Zindies member Jizo came by! I only received the newly printed pamphlets from him and didn't get a proper chance to talk—I'm sorry about that. Because the event was on a Saturday afternoon it overlapped with the café's busy hours, and things were a little hectic. As it neared the start time, customers from the second floor came down saying the air conditioner wasn’t working! I rushed upstairs and found the AC running, but the seats near the windows were indeed hot. I went back to the first floor, grabbed the circulator we use at the register, brought it upstairs and set it up. Then I put the ceiling AC on swing. When it's on swing you can see it moving, so customers can tell the AC is operating. Still, it was hot. Our second-floor gallery has an entire west wall of glass doors and no curtains, so the late sun pours in. There was nothing we could do today, and it stayed hot, but since the literary market next Saturday will have many more people we need to do something about those windows. Local and prefectural assembly members also attended the lecture! As expected, Mr. Yamamoto's connections are impressive. Professor Shindo's passionate message reached the participants, and the Q&A in the latter half became an animated exchange. At the end there was a signing of the professor's book. The new copy we had prepared at the shop—and all the previously published books—sold out. After seeing the professors off and tidying up the venue a bit, I returned to the bookstore register and a young woman came in. I thought she might be a café customer, but she bought a tanka ZINE. When I asked, "Do you write tanka?" and we talked, it turned out she had come to Nagoya from Tokyo as a tourist. She had only just started writing tanka, so I introduced her to song collections by Nagoya poets. I told her to try visiting Heiwaen the next time she comes to Nagoya. Also, a customer who had reserved a signed copy of Mr. Kuroken's new book came in. Surprisingly, this person was also from Tokyo! They had come to Nagoya just to buy Kuroken's signed copy. When I told them we had recently held a talk event with Kuroken, they said they had wanted to attend but couldn't because of work. I mentioned that we are planning a mystery-solving game event with Kuroken before the end of the year. In the evening a very lovely young woman visited. She said she came introduced by Konatsumuri. (It turned out during our conversation that she is actually married.) She draws with colored pencils and has published a picture book with a local publisher; she showed it to me. The illustrations and story were very cute, and her colored-pencil technique was careful and beautiful. She met Kona at an event, had visited Kusasou Books in Moriyama, and at a large ZINE fair found and purchased my ZINE "ここは本をかりるだけじゃない図書館"—she showed me a copy covered in sticky notes. She told me, "Reading this, I realized there are such kind libraries." I told her I had already left my post, but that the initiatives at Moriyama Library and Shidami Library are continuing, and asked her to please visit them.