Today was a public holiday, so the shop was closed. It happened that Jizō-san, a member of Zindies, was coming to Nagoya, so I decided to meet up at the venue of the ZINE event “イマZINE” held at Wink Aichi. 　“Ima ZINE,” held for the first time this year, seemed to be run so smoothly that you wouldn't think it was the first time, since the people who organize the book events in Endonji and everyone from 美鶴堂 were staffing it. 　Many ZINE creators who work with our shop also had booths, so I went to say hello. There were, of course, many first-time visitors, and we walked around the venue several times, checking each booth to see if there were any interesting ZINEs.

This week my work days and the shop's closed days fell one after another, so I'll only be working at the store today and tomorrow — just two days. Since it's the Obon holiday it feels a little wasteful, but you have to rest when you can. At my age I shouldn't overdo things. What makes me feel it's a shame to take time off is less the lost sales than not being able to talk with customers. At this time of year some people even come from outside Nagoya or from other parts of Aichi Prefecture, so it's disappointing not to be able to meet those visitors. Today two people came in who I had met at the ZINE event “Ima ZINE” held at Wink Aichi this past Tuesday the 11th: one exhibitor I met there, and a ZINE creator who had been exhibiting but whom I hadn't met yet. One is Nando Nezumi, who published a sento (public bath) book titled 『そっと無言で湯につかる』 (Sotto Mugon de Yu ni Tsukaru). I bought five copies. Nando Nezumi has apparently researched Nagoya's chindonya (traditional street advertisement performers), and I'd love to see a ZINE about that too. The other is an artist who makes photo books and diary ZINEs; they didn't have any copies on hand today, so they'll bring them later. After that, a man from a family who had been at the café bought a book, and when I spoke with him he said he'd wanted to visit our shop once. He was delighted and said it's nice to have a bookstore that only sells books about Nagoya. He and his wife apparently go on sento tours and visit sites related to Akira Toriyama. Mr. Muramatsu from Nakamura Library dropped by. He said today is his day off. He asked if I would become a shelf curator for the "Hitohako Library" project that Nakamura Library is working on! The shelf curator doesn't just select books (about ten); it seems a lecture is also included. Sometime in the latter half of this fiscal year I'll likely do a selection and a talk at Nakamura Library. I'll let you know when it's decided. For the selection I'm thinking something like "bookstore + Hon'ya Taisho (Booksellers' Award) + library + ZINE." They'll have to buy my ZINE too.

　Yesterday I went to ImaZINE held in Nagoya with Fujisaka from NAgoya BOOK CENTER. We went casually as attendees to look around, not as exhibitors. I had also been to ZINE Station that was held in Kyoto a little while ago; both were first-time events and each room felt about the same size. (ImaZINE had two rooms, so there were roughly twice as many exhibitors.) 　Sugita from Be Nice, a publisher/mobile-bookstore(?) style group I've known for a while, was also exhibiting; I bought a ZINE that felt like "Be Nice's exhibition history" while saying hello. I was able to talk with Ruko, who is a labor enthusiast, and Saki Shiori (team!) who was next to her, and it was nice to chat with several people who are close to Fujisaka. 　Before going to ImaZINE I actually visited Iruka Shorin near my parents' home. They knew about Librize and had several ZINEs. I found a "delusion ZINE" by someone called Yumetsuna interesting and tried to buy it, but they told me, "They're exhibiting at ImaZINE today too—please buy it there," so I found it at ImaZINE and got it safely. Iruka Shorin later registered with Zindies, so please try contacting the author as well. 　After ImaZINE we took the subway to Nakamura Park and had a meal with Fujisaka and others. We gathered at "Kushikatsu Taikō", where the yakitori and skewers are delicious, chatted a lot about ZINEs and libraries, and then broke up. 　I was pretty exhausted, but talking with people is fun. Hearing and sharing various ideas made me think that this is how things start to move. 　My next visit to Nagoya is on 9/5. I'll attend an event for Iida Kazufumi's new book, "An Introduction to 'Relaxed Reading' for 90% of Japanese." I'm really looking forward to it.

I meant to write this in the diary earlier, but the other day manga artist Megumi Tsuji visited the shop. Actually, she had come about a month ago while I was away, so we couldn't meet then. 　Ms. Tsuji has just released Volume 1 of 'Nokorimono ni wa Meshi ga Aru' with Akita Shoten, and her previous visit seemed to have been partly for coverage related to that serialization. 　'Nokorimono ni wa Meshi ga Aru' is a story set after the end of the Pacific War: a young man repatriated from Manchuria to his hometown of Nagoya grows through food in Nagoya's black market (apparently behind the station). 　Ms. Tsuji, who was born in Mie Prefecture and is still very young, must find it really difficult to depict the war and the black market. She told me that the photographs in 'Nagoya Station West Time Trip' published by Fubaisha that we have in our shop were very helpful, so I asked, 'Shall we try to meet the book's author Hayashi-sensei? Also, people who study the Nakamura yūkaku would know a lot about research from that era, so why not join the yūkaku lecture we hold at the shop?' — and I more or less pushed her into it. 　Since yesterday we've been exchanging messages on social media, and we decided to hold a talk event for 'Nokorimono ni wa Meshi ga Aru' after the second Nakamura yūkaku lecture in November, inviting Hayashi-sensei to speak about the history of the station-west area and the black market. I think we might be able to make a flyer around the week after next (it's hard to get cover images right now because the publisher is inactive during the Obon holiday).

This is the second tanka collection. Compared with the first volume, the choice of words here is more self-aware. It gazes upon the same light, drifting everyday life as ever.

There was an event today starting at 2:00 PM, and the speaker and the MC were scheduled to meet at 1:00 PM at the café "River", so I came to work before 12:00, an hour earlier. The forecast had said cloudy, but the sun was still strong and the second-floor gallery where the event was held looked like it would trap heat. Today's event was a lecture by Mr. Makoto Kumagai, author of "The Birth of Poet Noriko Ibaraki", which was recently published by Fubai-sha. We expected just under twenty attendees, but sign-ups increased during the last week and we ended up with 26 people. That left the venue almost full, and the back seats (near the windows) must have been quite hot. I kept thinking we should stop holding daytime events in midsummer. I'm worried because on the 15th next week there's another daytime talk by Nijino Noran. Since it was a Saturday afternoon, customers kept coming into the shop — even for a small bookstore like ours — and I couldn't just leave them and go up to the second-floor gallery to listen to the lecture. I didn't want to miss the chance to talk with customers, so in the end I only gave a brief greeting at the start of the lecture and couldn't hear the content at all. I had organized the event because I wanted to hear it myself, so it's really disappointing. Still, it was good that the number of participants exceeded expectations. One thing that surprised me was that the author's books, including signed copies, sold well (about ten copies) — although that doesn't mean everyone bought one. These days, even at author events, books often don't sell as well as expected; after paying a participation fee, people may be reluctant to spend extra on books. Meanwhile, other books by Noriko Ibaraki (and related titles) hardly sold at all. Maybe I should have asked the speaker to mention recommended poetry collections and related books during the talk. This year is the 100th anniversary of Noriko Ibaraki's birth, so I want to make sure we have them properly in stock. I'm looking forward to the diary book that didn't arrive in time. By the way, there are two signed copies of Mr. Kumagai's book in stock. Come to think of it, I realized we hadn't stocked any books by Nankichi Niimi — what a shock! I ordered a few picture books and story collections.

ImaZINE 🗓8/11 (Tue, national holiday) ⏱ 11:00~16:00 📍Winc Aichi 5F Booth: ｢ろばぱか｣ Small Hall 1 C-2 ･Free admission New release ✨️ 「Friend Pochette and Crochet Bag」800 yen I suddenly got into crocheting. Includes introductions to the pieces I made and essays about crocheting. "Friends" = stuffed toys 🧸 "Poetry Collection: Days, Aimless Walks" This is the second tanka collection. Compared with the first volume, I've chosen words more deliberately. Still gazing at the same dreamy, floaty everyday life. /////////// In addition to the above, I'll bring three previously published books and a free paper. If you're nearby, please feel free to stop by 🦙

What does a plushie mean to you? These days, "nuikatsu" has become common, but everyone enjoys it in their own way. This zine introduces ways of interacting with plushies, accompanied by illustrations.

I suddenly became obsessed with crocheting. It was for my cute "otomodachi" — my stuffed friends. This zine introduces my ever-growing collection of otomodachi pochettes and the bags I crocheted while watching videos. It also includes what got me into crocheting and a few essays. ("おともだち" = stuffed toys)

This is an event for beginners interested in tanka and tanka gatherings. We will each compose a tanka on the theme "Library / Librarian" and bring it to the meeting. On the day, everyone will anonymously share the tanka they wrote and give comments and impressions. Fee: 500 JPY (includes self-service café) Capacity: 6 people What to bring: Writing utensils Venue: Zoroku Kohan 〒460-0017 Room 24, 2F, Flower Center North Bldg., 1-9-13 Matsubara, Naka-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 460-0017, Japan 8-minute walk from Osu Kannon Station 16-minute walk from Kamimaezu Station Bicycle parking available If you are coming by car, please use nearby coin-operated parking lots. How to apply: Please sign up via Zindies first. By September 10, compose one tanka on the theme "Library / Librarian" and send it to the address below. ⚫︎Submission destination (where to send your tanka): Organizer Koji Fujisaka's X account DM (https://x.com/kojifuji) ※Has been writing tanka for 10 months. ⚫︎Submission deadline: September 10 You do not need to include the words "library" or "libr ary" in your tanka as long as it fits the theme. We aim to make this a fun meeting where beginners can enjoy tanka. We look forward to your participation.

We get questions about Zindies fairly often. Most of them lead to ideas for improving the service, and we're grateful for that. When writing answers to those questions, I thought it would be better to make them available as Q&A for anyone to see, rather than replying only to the person who asked. note has a feature called '質問箱' (question box). At first I considered using that name for Zindies as well, but the meaning is different: on note creators or shops receive questions anonymously, whereas on Zindies people send questions to the operations team. Creators and shops also sometimes send requests like "I want this," so I decided to name it 'おたずねBOX'. A section has been added to creators' and shops' management pages where they can submit questions. Besides responding to the person who asked, the operations team can edit the question and answer before publishing them. Until now most inquiries came by email, but that keeps the exchange completely private. Useful information is better shared with everyone. A list is available at https://zindies.co/faq, and creators and shops can submit an 'おたずね' from the link there without returning to their management page, so please feel free to use it.

ZINE Festival Wakayama is a zine sales event to be held on Monday, March 22, 2027 (national holiday) at the Wakayama Big Ai Exhibition Hall. Open 11:00–16:00, admission 500 yen. The event expects around 80 exhibitors and includes information for exhibitors such as booth specifications, participation fees, rules for delivery and sales, and the possibility of photography.

Today I ended up spending the day just grading the test results from last week's class... Sorry this isn't related to Zindies. 🙇

It's hot again today. In that heat, Kotomi-san, who helps with the ZINE, visited the shop. She went out of her way to bring the invoice for the ZINE that was delivered the other day. When I said an email would have been fine, she said, 'I wanted to meet and talk' ❤️ Thank you! A woman was intently looking at the books on the sales floor. When I spoke to her, she said she had read the article in the Yomiuri Shimbun — thanks to 'Bookstores, hooray'. But actually, she said she had heard my reading at an event at TOUTENBOOKSTORE in Kanayama a few years ago (!) and that it was the first time as an adult to have someone read to her; she was so moved she almost cried. When I checked photos — because I had done picture-book events several times at TOUTEN with my librarian colleague Ohashi during my librarian days — it seemed to have been the event on February 5, 2022. Has it already been four years? My face was pictured in the Yomiuri article, and that's how she knew I was at the current shop and came to see me. I'm truly grateful. We talked about various things, like the Momochihama library, the authors read there, and the Booksellers Award, and had a lively conversation. After she left, a young woman who had been listening to that conversation eagerly asked about the Booksellers Award. When we talked, she said she's a third-year high school student who reads a lot of novels and had read many of the Booksellers Award nominated works — I was surprised. There's a library near her home and she's been using it since she was little. She said she'd like to work part-time at a bookstore when she becomes a university student.

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.