The "Monaka and Yokan" released in autumn 2024 has been expanded due to popular demand. This compact volume distills Hasenbo's activities around "the freedom to write" and "the freedom to publish," which began with the "Light Publishing Declaration" in autumn 2023. Why did the author, an editor with 40 years' experience, start "light publishing"? What does that system mean for writers, and how can it actually be put into practice? A practical and emotional "Light Publishing" manifesto!

This is an exploratory essay that seeks to approach the "thought" of novelist Osamu Hashimoto, who sadly passed away in 2019, by reading and interpreting his critical essays from the mid to late period. Works re-read include The Printed Word Says, 'Rise Up'; Bring the French Revolution to Edo!; Our Modern History; Religion Is Not Scary!; What Was 'Yukio Mishima'?; and The Blessings of Hideo Kobayashi.

Author: Shin Oe (Anshin) Book design: Shin Oe Published by: -Ei-BOOKS A6 size · 210 pages ¥1,000 (tax included) No ISBN

Cover illustration (figures): Koya Kusano Book design · Editor · Publisher: Shin Oe Contributors (in gojūon order): Ageshio, Yuhi Adashino, Anshin (Shin Oe), Mayumi Izumi, Kamifumi, Rieko Kusano, Hisotsuya, Ion Koise, Sechi Saito, Yoroi Shibukawa, Ayumi Nakamura, Hotsuma Fujisaki, Chuu Miyazuki A6 size · 218 pages ¥1,000 (tax included) · No ISBN

Tokyo has been having a long stretch of rain. It's not a problem as long as I'm staying inside the house, but I still feel like going out. A few days ago I visited a new bookstore called Stoa'S that opened near Jiyugaoka Station. It was still in pre-opening, and the staff were still in training, but I was grateful they were thinking about whether Zindies could be involved. First, we decided we'd like to hold something on a regular basis; the content hasn't been decided yet, but we've settled on the title "Zindies Editorial Meeting." I hope it can become a fun place where all kinds of people come and go.

October 9 to November 1 A parent-and-child exhibition by Aisei Inukai and Ritsu Kakutani (S-kun) will be held at Hon Hitoshizuku in Seto, Aichi Prefecture. Please see Instagram for details!

Topic: 'Thinking about the Zindies editorial meeting' The Zindies Editorial Meeting is a gathering organized by people who create Zindies, held in a corner of a bookstore or a cafe. It's called a 'meeting', but some sessions end as casual conversation. There's almost no agenda, but there will probably be seats. At the editorial meeting we do things like: - Talk about and make decisions regarding Zindies. If you want to collaborate on something, please come. - Consult on how to make and distribute ZINEs. If you want to make one but don't know how, bring your questions; if you already make them, bring a copy you're proud of. You won't be forced to speak. It's fine to come just to watch the people who make Zindies talk. You can arrive and leave partway through. Anyone who comes can call themself a member of the Zindies editorial team from that day (one of the few perks). You can drop in without a reservation, but if you think you'll come, please click the 'Join' button — it makes the organizers happy.

Exhibitor applications open from Oct 2 at 21:00.

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.

An exhibition and sales event focused on zines, featuring doujinshi and small-scale publications. It will be held on June 26, 2027, from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM at Miyakomesse Basement 1. Information for exhibitors outlines booth sizes, delivery restrictions, rules on assisting event operations, and exhibition plans (fees). Photos of attendees and exhibitors may be posted on social media.

I finished writing an article that had been commissioned for a trade magazine. At around 10,000 characters, it has a respectable amount of content. The brief was simply “discuss ZINEs.” The theme is broad, but because you can take whatever position you want within it, it’s easier to write than being given narrowly defined areas. That said, it’s been a year and a little since I started developing Zindies. I’m aware that I don’t understand the world of ZINEs from end to end. If that’s the case, rather than taking a grand, sweeping stance, I decided to write about what I do know. With Zindies as the core, I described how the world of ZINEs looks from that vantage point. Because this will be seen not by the general public but by library professionals, the piece is based on archival- and database-style descriptions. However, using that as a starting point is insufficient to define the activities that are currently spreading in the ZINE world. Things are happening that we haven’t seen before, and I wrote with the stance of supporting explanations with data as evidence rather than relying on feelings as much as possible. I only knew the deadline and don’t really know when it will be published, but I hope I can share it again once it’s released.

On September 27, 2026, we'll be exhibiting at ZINE Fest Kyoto held at Miyakomesse (Kyoto City Kangyokan). We will be at the booth near the entrance [B-2] with "Kamogawa ARCHIVES #01" and the previously published essay "Aruku, To Iu Koto". 9/27 (Sun) 11:00-16:00 Basement 1, Miyakomesse (Kyoto City Kangyokan) Admission: 500 yen

Kyoto — Kamo River. People gather along the riverbank where time flows gently. What kinds of lives lie behind them? Includes 13 first-person interviews and 10 contributed episodes. Housewives, photographers, business owners. Different in age, gender, and occupation — what is their view of the Kamo River?

I am a writer and editor based in Kyoto. I'm producing a ZINE to explore the relationship between communities and people. I make my living conducting interviews. Feel free to get in touch ◎

Books, zines, art, craft goods, and handmade items — creators and small brands active in Oita will come together.

I received the notice of the booth number for Bungaku Flea Market Tokyo 43, which will be held on Nov 8. The booth number is "i-67-68 (South Halls 3-4)" This will be my first festival-style event since the ZINE Fest Yokohama in February (already seven months ago!). I really want to make sure I'm fully prepared this time.

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.

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.