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Japanese Picture Books as a Window to Japan ~ by Holly Thompson

Part 1 of 3

Some years ago, as we prepared for a second time to settle in Japan, with children ages two and seven, we were excited about the immediate access we would have to Japanese children’s literature. Japan has long had a robust children’s book market, and we were eager to be immersed in it. So after we moved into our rented home and formed our new school, work and household routines, just as we had in the U.S., we made weekly trips to our local library and brought home stacks of picture books, nature field guides, activity and art books, and, of course, manga—fiction, historical, and biography. With bookstores located at most Japanese train stations and plentiful throughout our town, we also spent hours browsing shop aisles.

Written Japanese includes three writing systems—kanji characters plus two phonetic syllabaries, and young children first learn to read the phonetic hiragana syllabary. Once children can read the hiragana symbols, reading words written in hiragana is immediate. Japanese children aged three and four are often seen reading books that are written entirely in hiragana, and our daughter could read this way in Japanese well before she could read in English.

Japanese picture books took our family deeper inside Japan. Not only were we exposed to great and quirky Japanese stories, but children’s books also provided a window into attitudes and human relations in our adopted culture. We came to better appreciate the rhythms of the language, learned dialogue for every situation, and encountered an infinite number of Japanese onomatopoeias. Japanese is such a complex language to read and write well, and children’s science and nonfiction books offered easy-to-comprehend information about the world around us—the physical world and the society to which we were adapting.

Many of our favorite Japanese children’s books from our years with younger children were published by Fukuinkan Shoten Publishers —their regular picture books, as well as their monthly series: Kodomo no tomo (Children’s Companion, in three age levels—0-2, 2-4, 5-6), Kagaku no tomo (Children’s Science Companion, in two age levels—3-5 and 5-6), Takusan no fushigi (World of Wonders, ages 8 and up) and the discontinued Ookina poketto (Big Pocket).

Fukuinkan Shoten’s monthly books (image on left) include original richly illustrated picture book stories, folktales, and outstanding and varied nonfiction. Published in sturdy paperbacks and often organized in their own sections in school and public libraries, these children’s books have endured on our shelves. I’ve often wondered if English-language publishers might benefit by considering the monthly book model that Fukuinkan Shoten has followed with great success here in Japan. Many of the most successful and popular monthly books, published initially as paperbacks with smaller print runs, are later published in hardcover, such as Taro Gomi’s Minna Unchi, famous in English as Everyone Poops.

Even without small children now, I still like to purchase Fukuinkan Shot

I stumbled upon this wonderful picture book (with some timely resonances) at my local picture book library.  The Song of the Cicada by Ainu artist, poet, and storyteller Shizue Ukaji (Fukuinkan Shoten, 2008) tells the story of an old woman who prophesizes  about a tsunami in which the waters of the sea will overflow and meet waters overflowing from the mountaintops to create one gigantic wave that will destroy everything.  Night and day, the old woman sings this song of doom and peril.  One village listens and moves their residences high up; the other village does not and gets swept away.   Among the swept away is the old woman herself, but she is not without some grit and resources.  Calling out to the sea god, she tells him that the fields of the sea will stink of the smell of their deaths unless he does something.  Enraged by this taunt, he sends the woman to a ‘sixth’ hell.  Luckily for her, a protector goddess who is also a weaver has thrust the end of her spindle right down to this hell.  The old woman climbs out onto the earth, emerging as a cicada, thus it is that the book is called Song of the Cicada.

What I found particularly compelling about this picture book aside from its tsunami references, was the beautiful textile work of  Ukaji who illustrated the entire story using old kimono fabrics (known as kofu in Japanese) and colorful embroidery thread to create the various scenes.  Traditional Ainu patterns and motifs are evident in some of the embroidery work. Herself an Ainu born in 1933, Ukaji moved to the capital and worked her way through school.  She subsequently was married and had two children.  It was only until she was in her sixties that she had the wherewithal to enjoy creating stories and artwork about her Ainu heritage.   Song of the Cicada is the second published work of Ukaji.  I hope that this wonderful Ainu artist’s books can be someday translated into English!  For more on Ukaji and Ainu textile artwork, check out this video of a recent exhibit held in Osaka.

Just before I left Canada, I had a quick browse through the bookstore at our local airport, thinking it might be a good idea to bring a book about Manitoba to show to kids in Japan.  Winston of Churchill: One Bear’s Battle Against Global Warming by Jean Davies Okimoto, illustrated by Jeremiah Trammell (Scholastic, 2007) was prominently displayed in the kids section.  I’d heard about and read the book before to my daughter based on her teacher’s recommendation, so was happy to pick up a copy. 

Winston of Churchill tells the story of a “fierce, brave bear” to whom everyone listened.  He lived in Churchill, Manitoba — a famed location for polar bear sightings. Winston had a message for all those sightseeing tourists:  If humans didn’t stop their nasty global warming habits, then a feature of the polar bears’ natural habitat — ice, to be specific — would soon disappear.  Winston rallies his polar bear community to make a protest to the tourists.  Everyone thinks this is a good idea, except for Winston’s wife.  She has a little something she would like Winston to consider before making his stand public.  Suffice it to say, the little something has to do with Winston’s own little nasty personal habit.

I thought I would read Winston of Churchill to Japanese school children in English, but lo, to my surprise, the book had already been translated into Japanese and there were three copies of the translation in my daughter’s school library here.  So much for that idea! Currently, for our night time reading, my daughter and I have been concentrating on bilingual books to keep up with her English reading skills and help orient her in basic written Japanese.  We started with the well known classic Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion, pictures by Margaret Bloy Graham (Harper Collins, 1956).  The Japanese translation is titled Doronko Hari and is translated by Watanabe Shigeo (Fukinkan Shoten, 1964).   We will now  definitely be moving on to Winston of Churchill!

Something fitting for this weeks theme. It's from Maho no Kasa, a translated version of Rose Fyleman's story "The Magic Umbrella", published by Fukuinkan Shoten in Tokyo 1999 and reprinted 2007.