(Record of a Yokohama Shopping Trip)
a manga series by Ashinano Hitoshi. 
This is a tribute page to the YKK series. It was such an inspiration for me. I can not begin to describe it. I hadn’t particularly analyzed how it lodged itself so firmly in my heart, I just accepted it there, and it always gives me a warm feeling to read this manga. Writing this blog has helped me reflect on the qualities that drew me to it. Quiet, thoughtful, and meticulously constructed, the story unfolds with engaging characters, grace and elegance. It is beautifully illustrated in a spare pen-and-ink drawing style. Oh and it is science fiction, I just keep forgetting that because it is so different than any I have previously experienced.
It is set in a peaceful, post-cataclysmic world where mankind is in decline after an environmental disaster. What happened is never explained, but sea levels have risen significantly, inundating coastal cities. The reduced human population has reverted to a simpler life, it is the twilight of the human age. Instead of fear or anger at their fate, humans seem quietly accepting.
Alpha Hatsuseno is an android who runs a coffee shop, Café Alpha, on the lonely coast of the Miura Peninsula of Japan, while her mysterious 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—she is immortal.
Most chapters are self-contained slice-of-life episodes depicting Alpha in mundane daily activities, either alone, with customers, or on occasional trips through the countryside or into Yokohama for supplies (thus the “shopping log” of the title). 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, we see the small wonders of everyday life and are aware of their passing: 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 to engage the reader as the series unfolds in a meandering progression, by turns funny, touching, and nostalgic.
The manga was serialized in Kodansha’s Afternoon magazine from June 1994 to February 2006, with a concluding postscript episode in July 2006, and collected in 14 tankōbon volumes. Parts of the story were adapted as two OVA anime series of two episodes each. Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō won the 2007 Seiun Award for best science fiction comic.
Unfortunately, YKK has gone largely unnoticed outside of Japan. Ideally, a US publisher would license and translate the series but I understand that is unlikely. Although I have found a great site where someone has taken it upon themselves to translate the work, it is unfortunately incomplete and has not been updated for awhile. I have all the chapters that have been translated so far and will be putting them in a zip file for download and linking to it here. I will update this page when it’s done. Meanwhile you could visit http://ykk.misago.org/Contents for as long as it remains up and download chapters there.
If you enjoy this story, please consider buying it. (Sasuga Books will sell it to you online.)
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