🏕️Chat | About the day I talked with a book lover I met for the first time

Since February 2026, I have been a
rental box shelf owner at a local community cafe.

It is a place where you can rent a 40-centimeter square shelf on a monthly basis and sell handmade items on consignment.

Since I don't have many things I can make yet and I'm interested in the
shared bookshelves I've seen in recent years, I also have two books available for browsing every month.

It seems that I,

would rather "create connections through books" than "sell books,"

so I started that attempt on a small scale.

But just placing books there doesn't create a "connection."

What is a way to interact with people who are interested in the books and pick them up, without having to share the same time and place?

After thinking about it, I decided to place a sketchbook there.

I remembered that there was one at a hotel I stayed at in Osaka, and it was fun to both write in and read.

The shop staff and people who know me wrote in it right away, and I was happy that they supported my new endeavor.

That alone made me feel like it was worth doing, and I felt the preciousness and encouragement in the comments I received.

Because the shop staff introduced it to customers, the names I'd never seen before started appearing in the sketchbook.

When I write a reply, some people write back again.

Even though we have never met, the handwritten exchanges, like pen-pal letters or a shared diary, warm my heart.

One day, I happened to meet someone at a cafe
who had left comments for me several times.

The cafe staff said, "Oh! They're here!" and
introduced us, and to my surprise, we were able to talk.

I never thought the day would come when we could meet! I felt
overwhelming joy, along with a slight sense of worry.

Even if we are both "book lovers,"
our favorite genres and ways of enjoying books are different, and
above all, I wondered about our personal chemistry.

Since we had only interacted "across time and space,"
I felt anxious about the unexpected and sudden closeness.

However, that anxiety gradually melted away.

They were very calm and open-minded, and
without being swept up in my nervous and eager pace,
they kept the conversation going at a comfortable tempo.

They listened to me happily and nodded along,
shared their own feelings and favorite things, and
I talked with them while thinking what a wonderful person they were.

Perhaps because we had exchanged comments a few times,
even though it was my first time meeting them, I felt strangely at ease.

I usually try too hard when talking to someone for the first time,
often feeling exhausted after returning home,
but this time, only a warm sense of exhilaration remained.

I think this might be the first time in my life
that I've talked to someone I just met because of our shared "love of books."

In the first place, talking to someone about books
was a precious experience for me.

In my daily life, I am the only one in my family who reads books,
or if I had to say, maybe my grandmother who lives far away.

My friends of the same generation are busy with work and family,
so books and reading have never come up as a topic.

Even if I have resistance to talking about myself with someone I just met,
it's nice to be able to get to know them indirectly through books.

I think it's perfect for someone like me who prefers deep conversations.

I realized that the thing I wanted to do—
“creating warm connections through books”—is taking shape.

Even if it's not a big challenge, it's amazing how much happiness
you can feel when something just feels right in your heart.

Actually, this happened on the very day I borrowed books on
“reading circles” and “book clubs” from the library,
thinking that I wanted to try an in-person event someday,
so I thought this might be the kind of moment when people feel destiny.

Rather than trying to expand or grow this warm connection,
I want to nurture it within a range I can manage myself.

What can I do for that? What do I want to do?

While reading the books I borrowed from the library,
I want to spend my days feeling excited,
thinking about participating in and hosting events.