Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (Manga)

***Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou*** (ヨコハマ買い出し紀行), translated in English as *Yokohama Shopping Log* or simply abbreviated as *YKK*, is a Japanese science fiction manga series of 142 chapters written and illustrated by Hitoshi Ashinano. It was serialized in Kodansha's *Monthly Afternoon* magazine from June 1994 to February 2006, with a concluding postscript episode in July 2006, and collected in 14 tankōbon volumes.

The series depicts the daily life of an android who runs a coffee shop some time after the Earth's ecology has collapsed. It is noted for its spare pen-and-ink drawing style, as well as its calm, meticulously paced stories and engaging characters. *Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou* won the 2007 Seiun Award for best science fiction comic.

## Plot

*Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou* is set in a peaceful, post-cataclysmic world where mankind is in decline after an environmental disaster. Exactly what happened is never explained, but sea levels have risen significantly, inundating coastal cities such as Yokohama, Mount Fuji erupted in living memory, and climate change has occurred. With the seasons being less pronounced, the winters are milder and the summer isn't scorching anymore. The reduced human population has reverted to a simpler life, and the reader is told this is the twilight of the human age. One scene depicts an anti-aircraft missile being used in a firework display. Instead of raging against their fate, humans are quietly accepting.

Alpha Hatsuseno is an android who runs an out-of-the-way coffee shop, Café Alpha, on the lonely coast of the Miura Peninsula of Japan, while her human "owner" is on a trip of indefinite length. Though she spends much of her time alone, Alpha is cheerful, gregarious, and—unlike the slowly declining humans—immortal.

Most chapters of *Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou* are self-contained slice-of-life episodes depicting Alpha in daily activities, either alone, with customers, or on occasional trips through the countryside or into Yokohama for supplies (whence the "shopping log" of the title came). Whole chapters are devoted to brewing coffee, taking photographs, or repairing a tiny model aircraft engine, sometimes with only a few lines of dialogue. Through Alpha's experiences, the author brings out the small wonders of everyday life and makes the reader aware of their passing: the aircraft engine runs out of fuel; her scooter breaks down; the rising ocean encroaches on her coffee shop; the neighborhood children she loves grow up and move away. In evoking a nostalgia for this loss, Ashinano follows the Japanese tradition of *mono no aware* (sadness for the transience of things).

Though often self-contained, the stories have continuity—relationships grow and change, and seemingly insignificant details reappear later. Ashinano explains few details of Alpha's world, leaving mysteries that engage the reader as the series unfolds in a meandering progression, by turns funny, touching, and nostalgic.

## List of Volumes

### First Edition

A total of 141 chapters were published in Japan by Kodansha in the seinen manga magazine *Monthly Afternoon* between June 1994 to February 2006. The serial chapters were collected in 14 tankōbon volumes by Kodansha under the Afternoon KC imprint. It is licensed in Korea under the title 카페 알파 (*Café Alpha*), in Indonesia by M&C Comics, in Taiwan by Tong Li Publishing, and in France by Meian under the title *Escale à Yokohama*.

Volume 1Volume 2Volume 3Volume 4Volume 5Volume 6Volume 7Volume 8Volume 9Volume 10Volume 11Volume 12Volume 13Volume 14
### Second Edition

In Q4 of 2009 Kodansha started a reprint of the *tankōbon* volumes. In addition, a six-page postscript chapter was published in the July 2006 issue of *Afternoon*. Titled "Touge" ("Mountain Pass"), this story does not have a chapter number and was not included in the original collection, though it is included in volume 10 of the re-release.

Volume 1Volume 2Volume 3Volume 4Volume 5Volume 6Volume 7Volume 8Volume 9Volume 10
### Other Volumes

A postcard book with art from the manga was published on 24 September 1997, and an art book was published on 20 March 2003.

Postcard BookArt Book