What We Find in a Gentle Flow / Monthly JIYUCHO Letter vol.64
Once a month, JIYUCHO sends out the Monthly JIYUCHO Letter. Yamamoto, manager of JIYUCHO and FUTO, shares poems we recommend, events for the coming month, and small scenes from the shop that might make you smile.
This is the issue sent at the end of April 2026. We hope you will enjoy reading it. You can subscribe from the bottom of the JIYUCHO homepage.
Podcast JIYUCHO FM: You are free to choose where you go / Worries and thoughts from JIYUCHO's manager and owner
In this episode of JIYUCHO FM, the owner and manager talked about the freedom of choosing where to go. Even when we are not making a dramatic decision, every day contains small turns: where to walk, what to notice, what to keep close, and what to let pass by.
When we stop trying to force the next answer, we sometimes begin to see what has been flowing quietly beside us. The conversation moves through that kind of gentle current, thinking about how a path may appear when we keep walking with curiosity.
Please listen when you want a relaxed companion for your time alone, or when you want to remember that the place you choose from here can still be your own.
May opening schedule
May arrives with a softer brightness. At JIYUCHO and FUTO, we will continue to welcome you as a place where you can write, read, think, and spend time with your own feelings.
Our regular opening hours are as follows. JIYUCHO is open on weekdays from 13:00 to 18:00, and on weekends and holidays from 10:00 to 20:00. It is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, except when they fall on holidays. FUTO is open on weekdays from 13:00 to 18:00, and on weekends and holidays from 10:00 to 20:00. It is closed on Tuesdays, except when they fall on holidays.
Both shops use dynamic pricing, so the price changes depending on the time of day. Visits before 11:00 are more affordable than peak hours and are usually less crowded. If your schedule allows, please enjoy the calm morning hours too.
SEASONAL TOMOSHIBI LETTER spring edition, available in limited quantities
The spring edition of SEASONAL TOMOSHIBI LETTER is now available in limited quantities. This seasonal version pairs the experience of writing a letter to your future self with a sweet or drink that carries the feeling of the season.
Spring is a time when small beginnings appear everywhere. Some are easy to name, like a new school year or a new job. Others are much quieter: a feeling you want to remember, a wish you have not yet said aloud, or a gentle hope for the person you will be several months from now.
We hope this seasonal letter becomes a chance to pause in the middle of such days and leave words for your future self.
A film set at JIYUCHO will be screened in theaters around Japan
A film in which JIYUCHO appears as one of its settings will be screened at movie theaters in different areas. Seeing the shop through a camera gives us a slightly strange feeling: a place we know well becomes both familiar and new.
For those who have visited before, perhaps the scenes will bring back the atmosphere of the room, the desk, the light, or the time spent writing. For those who have not yet visited, we hope the film will become a small doorway into the world of JIYUCHO.
If it is screened near you, please take a look.
Kuramae backstreet walk with the JIYUCHO manager begins in May
Starting in May, we will begin a small tour called Kuramae Backstreet Walk with the JIYUCHO Manager.
Kuramae is a town where wide roads and quiet backstreets sit very close to one another. There are shops you might find only if you turn at just the right corner, views that change with the weather, and small discoveries that become more charming because they are easy to miss.
On this walk, Yamamoto will guide you through places around JIYUCHO and FUTO while sharing stories of the neighborhood. We hope it becomes a time to feel the town slowly, not as a list of sightseeing spots, but as a living place with texture.
A recommended poem in place of closing words
This month we have introduced a podcast about freedom, a seasonal letter, a film, and a walk through the backstreets of Kuramae. Looking back on all of them, I feel that they share a single quiet theme: something can be found when we allow ourselves to move gently, without rushing toward an answer.
The poem we recommend this month carries that same feeling. It does not push the reader forward by force. Instead, it seems to say that even if we do not yet know where we are going, the act of walking, looking, and listening can itself become a path.
When you read it, perhaps you will remember a time when you changed direction for no dramatic reason, only because the light looked beautiful or because your heart leaned that way. I hope you will cherish those small movements too.
Bonus words of the month
This month's extra words came from another everyday conversation among JIYUCHO members. A casual phrase that first made everyone laugh slowly began to sound almost wise the more we repeated it.
That often happens here. Something said jokingly in the back room ends up touching the shop's larger theme: to taste honest feelings and ordinary days. Even a small laugh can become a sentence we want to keep.
May the coming month bring you a calm flow, and may you find something that feels quietly yours within it.
See you in the next newsletter, at the shop, or somewhere along a backstreet in Kuramae.
