A sunny weekend. Apparently it's the first one in Tokyo since early August. Since it was a nice day, I went out. That said, it was only a "trip in spirit": I took a local bus I don't normally ride out to a distant stop, had a meal, and came back. Even so, it was a pleasant change of pace. Even on weekends, until not long ago I felt a bit unsettled if I didn't bring my laptop, but lately it's become convenient because I can chat with AI and make small document edits on my smartphone. Today someone contacted me saying they'd like to feature my personal activities in a magazine and sent a text organizing those activities for me to check. The content wasn't wrong, but as I made small edits something flipped and I ended up rewriting it quite a bit. After they read it, they said, "This is interesting — rather than a simple profile we'll turn it into an article," so I polished it further and sent it back. I'm the sort of person who rather enjoys developments like that. I don't know when it will be published, but I'll let you know once it comes out. If it's an interesting story, unexpected surprises are more than welcome.

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.

In the corner of a dark room, the unseen expression of a familiar doll. The dim light through the curtains, and what lies beyond them. A story of one night when I re-tied the ribbon of a doll that had come undone. 16 pages (B6 size)

That friendly fellow I often see on the street. What if he stood beside me as a friend...? A slightly mysterious story about him and me. 10 pages, B6 size.

This is a tanka gathering hosted by tanka poet Miyako Asai for beginners and those with only a short history of composing tanka. First-time participants are very welcome. If you would like to join, please compose one tanka (theme is free) and send it to: [email protected], Attn: Fujisaka. The deadline is December 15. Please feel free to participate. Profile of Miyako Asai: Born in Nagoya. Member of the tanka society Mahiruno. Winner of the Mahiruno Prize in 2017. She also teaches tanka classes at Tempaku Library in Nagoya. Her tanka collection "Tsubasa no Orime" is published by Hon'ami Shoten.

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.

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.

I'll be making my ZINE debut at Bungaku Flea Market Tokyo 43. The zines I'll have on sale are: Fashion essays "The Fashion Rules No One Told You: Becoming the Self You Want to Be" — ¥1,300 "The Fashion Rules No One Told You: Adult Fashion Is Difficult" — ¥1,300 Essay "Rewilding Myself" — ¥1,300 (planned) Please stop by our booth. I look forward to meeting you. [2026/11/8 (Sun) / Bungaku Flea Market Tokyo 43] Seller: Asa to Velvet / Naoko Kobayashi Booth: Ta-61 (South Halls 3-4) Event details: https://bunfree.net/event/tokyo43/

This zine collects selected entries about "Becoming the Person You Want to Be" from the blog "The Style Rules No One Told You," which began in 2010, and adds new material.

A ZINE compiled from excerpts about adult fashion from the blog 'The Style Rules Nobody Told You', which began in 2010, with new entries added.

I have written about fashion in books, blogs, and online media. From now on, I plan to publish essays and other pieces as a ZINE.

BeːinG (BiːinG) — the magazine that plays with the supernatural — returns for its second issue: "Women and Monsters Dance." This issue explores uncanny phenomena related to women. We welcome an even more luxurious lineup of guests than last time. The yokai make-up corner has been powered up with extra supernatural flair! Contents Feature: "Women and Monsters Dance" [GUEST COLUMN] The Lineage of the Cursing Woman — Female Ghosts in Classical Kaidan — Mariko Kawana [INTERVIEW] An interview with Yuki Yoshida about the monster of the Red Woman [ARTICLE] Shocking Confession: "I Encountered the Slit-Mouthed Woman Twice"!!! — Haomari Ko [MAKE-UP PROJECT] The Slit-Mouthed Woman: 7‑Day Mix-and-Match Diary [REPORT] BeːinG Travelogue — A Journey through Women's Mysteries in Okinawa — Naoko Kawakami [GUEST ESSAY] The Comb and the Pregnant Woman — Suisei Kojima [SPECIAL PROGRAM] Women's Ghost Stories: Exchanged Letters — Sakura Fukatsu × Haomari Ko [GUEST NOBEL] Private (For Addressee) — Soichiro Tomoyori [INTERVIEW] Interview with Rie Inoo, who played Sadako in the film "Ring" [COLUMN] The Villainous Women of the Araki Family's Yokai Picture Scrolls — Naoko Kawakami [SERIALIZATION] Haomari Ko's True Ghost Stories "Kiki Kajiri" — The Red Woman: Scene Two [YOKAI ART] Hakutaku — artwork by Nana Yamamoto "Lovable Folks" — Text by Naoko Kawakami & Haomari Ko Yokai Fortune-telling — Readings by Naoko Kawakami

mg. is a project in which six members ponder a featured food and express it in various forms such as columns, essays, and short stories. The gyoza issue has become like a grown-up's independent research project! Whether you prefer eating gyoza out or making them at home, please enjoy. 【mg. vol.12 contents】 『Around Gyoza』 REPORTAGE Going to eat gyoza. PORCELARTS Cheers at the mg. gyoza tavern! COLUMN Frozen Gyoza Research Notes 2026 Researching various aspects of gyoza A major survey of gyoza (mandu) from our neighboring country, Korea!! GUEST COLUMN Gyoza that appear in films ESSAY Eating on the side COLUMN Try it! Gyoza no Manshu Why are gyoza wrappers round? Guide to store-bought wrappers by type REPORTAGE Gyoza plate hunt in Kappabashi ESSAY Wrapping Communication DIARY Four people's gyoza diary NOVEL Two people's gyoza OSUSUMEGURI What to use for gyoza sauce?

While working as a company employee, I create various ZINEs. ZINE editor and writer. I write everything from columns and essays to novels. Main activities - Food-focused ZINE “mg.” (emujī) Produced by six members. A magazine in which each member expresses the theme of food in their own way — essays, columns, fiction, and more. - Magazine that plays with the uncanny “BeːinG” (biīngu) A ZINE produced by the unit BeːinG (Naoko Kawakami & Mariko Hao), who enjoy folklore, yokai, and ghost stories. We pursue strange tales, curious customs, and matters related to yokai. Please feel free to contact me for anything from editing and layout assistance to writing and speaking.

From New York punk to cyberpunk, whodunit punk (shin-honkaku), and Genroku-era punk inspired by Hanabusa Itchō; from Bunka–Bunsei punk after Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Kuniyoshi and Tsuruya Nanboku, to Bakumatsu punk of Aōdō Dazen; from Meiji punk of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi and Toyohara Kiyochika and the shin-hanga punk of Jakurē; through contemporary punk by groups and creators such as Hanagumi Theatre Company, Yuki Shasendo and Denpō Torishima; to SWA’s new rakugo punk, idol punk by BiSH and Sakurazaka46, and even punk for ballpoint pens and toasters — a collection of column fragments that cross the personal and the urban entertainments quietly blooming in back alleys. The table of contents is published as images.

I was browsing an SNS when I came across a mention of this service. I wondered whether the books I make are zines (I personally call them “light publications”), so I went ahead and registered the three best-selling titles I’ve released so far. If there are orders, I’ll add a few more titles. My books are mainly literary criticism.

The fourth volume of the Nanboku Tsuruya Novelization Project is finally a ghost-story play, the very genre Nanboku excelled at. Set in Edo and based on two tales that were well known at the time — the undying uncanny “Ki wa Kohiraji” and the plate-counting ghost “Banshū Sarayashiki” — each serves as the basis for a murder case that the young Kikugorō III and Danjūrō VII solve with the aid of ghosts. The original ghost stories that inspired the pieces are also included as short stories, with commentary.

A selected collection of essays on “publishing,” “bookstores,” and “media” originally published in the independent web media Magazine Kō and in little magazines during the 2010s through the 2020s, a period when bookstores across Japan continued to decline. It includes episodes from the period that constitute the prehistory of the previously released Monaka to Yokan. A booklet for “people who take action,” full of insights to fundamentally rethink the relationship between books and people. (B6 size, perfect bound, 64 pages)

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!