30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Hidden Treasures: Kristi Yamaguchi Autographed Book

A few months ago, I picked up a book for my best friend's daughter called It's a Big World, Little Pig!  


It's written by Olympic gold medalist, Kristi Yamaguchi... who I've had a small celebrity crush on since I was a teenager.  Anyways... last week I met my friend for dinner and she mentioned that her and her husband were surprised to find that the book was autographed.

I was surprised too.  The store I had purchased it from is called Nikkei Traditions and it's located in San Jose's Japantown... which happened to be where we decided to meet for dinner.

The store usually closes pretty early, so we walked over to the store before heading to the restaurant.  I immediately headed over to the bookshelves and found a bunch of copies remaining.  All of them were signed...


Children's picture books aren't exactly my cup of tea.  But Kristi Yamaguchi sure is!  I ended up grabbing another copy for myself.  There isn't a COA... but I know she has a strong presence in the community, so I trust that it's real.

Best of all... it was less than $20.  To put things into perspective... her pack pulled autographs rarely sell for less than $50 on eBay.

It won't exactly allow me to retire early, but it was a pleasant surprise I wanted to share with  any of my readers who live in the Bay Area. and might happen to be Yamaguchi fans.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

14 comments:

sg488 said...

Very nice acquisition.

The Lost Collector said...

Well done!

Hackenbush said...

Definitely a nicer autograph than you'd get on a card, too.

Dawgbones said...

Very nice. One of my favorite author/autograph stories involves Brandon Sanderson and his habit of popping into airport book stores during his travels and signing some of his books that are on the shelves to be sold! He then gives hints on Facebook as to which shops/airports they can be found in!!

Stealing Home said...

Fuji - you're not the only one with a Kristi crush.

Jafronius said...

I'm surprised that they put the copies on the shelf. Figured they be behind the register or something like that.

Spiegel83 said...

Nice! I met her at a book signing in Pasadena when the book came out. She even signed a Ginter card for me.

Greg Zakwin said...

congrats on the find!

Fuji said...

That's pretty awesome. More authors should do this. It's a win-win-win situation.

The airport stores get more foot traffic. The fans get a nice bonus. And the author gets a sense of satisfaction that he/she has done something nice for their readers... plus a little publicity.

Fuji said...

Nope... they're right there on the shelf. They have a personalized one on display behind the counter though.

Fuji said...

;-)

Fuji said...

Very cool. I'm bummed that I missed the book signing at their store.

JediJeff said...

I once bought a signed autobiography of Rick Springfield from Goodwill for a buck.

I am not sure why I am admitting that here. Maybe I should just delete this comment. Yeah, let me hit the backspace butto...

NO!!! NOT (ENTER). NOOOOOO!!!! DELETE....DELETE YOU SON OF
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Fuji said...

Lol... c'mon who doesn't love a little Jessie's Girl every now and then.