Hon no Machi October 2025 Issue (Vol. 6) — Now Available Free at Member Shops from September 10

Thank you, as always, for reading Hon no Machi. The autumn breeze feels wonderful, and autumn, the season for reading, is finally here.

The October issue (No. 6) of the monthly Hon no Machi was published on September 10.

Highlights of This Issue

Opening a Shop in a Town of Coffee and Records

Katsutoshi Kubota of Café Ataraxia describes his path to opening a café in Jimbocho.

Jazz Spot Visits Reach 1,100

Kazuyuki Iida’s “There’s No Hobby as Wonderful as Jazz!” celebrates a milestone: he has now visited 1,100 jazz spots around Japan.

Verdi’s Requiem: A Miracle Witnessed in Rome

Music journalist Marsha Lin recounts her experience of a Mass praying for peace held in Rome on August 6, 1995.

▶ Read “Photographer ELLI’s Town Walks” #5: @Wonder on the web

Contents of This Issue

• My Apprenticeship in Old Books (3) / Inuhiko Yomota
• The People Who Weave Book Town: Hajime Takayama (3) / Rin Mizuki
• Jimbocho and Me (5): Matsumura Bookstore / Ryosuke Sakota
• The Changing Jimbocho Old-Book District (6): The Impact of Digitization and Public Databases / Hiroshi Tarumi
• A Trading-Company Man’s 1980s: Dining Out in Jimbocho / Tomoaki Watanabe
• New Whimsical Journal of Art (History) (6) / Hiroaki Goto
• Thinking About the Earthen Bridges of Edo Castle (Part 3) / Kazuo Nonaka
• My Golden Age of Cinema (6): Director Yoshimitsu Morita / Yasutaka Tarumi
• Opening a Shop in a Town of Coffee and Records / Katsutoshi Kubota
• Photographer ELLI’s Town Walks (5): @Wonder / Eri Ito
• There’s No Hobby as Wonderful as Jazz! (70) / Kazuyuki Iida
• A Short Biography of Shuhei Fujisawa (6): “The University of Society” and Haiku / Katsuo Sawada
• Verdi’s Requiem: A Miracle Witnessed in Rome / Marsha Lin
• Music Through the Seasons: Salieri Revived in the Hot-Spring Steam of Kusatsu / Li Jing
• Kanae Itakura, Itaru Tanabe and Usaburo Ihara (Part 2) / Yoshihiro Mizutani
• Early Photographs of Edo Castle and Its Surroundings (73) / Atsushi Shimizu

Cover: Masako Takezawa, “Moon Boat Excursion”
This issue also includes a notice that Yamagataya Paper Shop has moved to Kanda-Jimbocho 3-chome.

Publication Details

• Issue: Monthly Hon no Machi, October 2025 issue (Vol. 6)
• Publication date: September 10, 2025
• Cover price: ¥150 (tax incl.) — distributed free at member shops
• Publisher: Hon no Machi Editorial Office
• Where to find it: Member shops and other locations in Kanda, Jimbocho and Ochanomizu (list of member shops and pickup points)

The PDF of this issue is available on note.

Earlier issues can be read on our Back Issues page. *Exhibitions, events, shop information, advertisements and other details are as of the original publication date.

日本語で読む — Read this article in Japanese