OUR PICTURE-BOOK SERIES
Our Multilingual Picture-Book Series Introducing Japanese Culture
Every year, we plan and produce a picture book related to the theme of Japanese culture in-house, handling everything from translation and design to DTP and editing.
We began this project in 1997 out of a desire to share Japanese history, culture, lifestyle practices, and philosophical concepts with people around the world through illustrated books.
Along with the illustrations, the multilingual text in Japanese as well as other languages like English, Spanish, and Chinese makes the books interesting to look at and has won them many fans among readers of all ages.
Other Titles (1997–2016)
The Gate:
Selected Masterworks of Japanese Literature
2016
Songs of the Four Seasons
2015
The Spirit of the Folktale II
2014
Never Giving in to the Rain
2013
The Fox Boy
2012
Japanese Tales –
Sequel from the Slaying of Yamata no Orochi to Yamato Takeru
2011
Japanese Tales from the Creation of Japan to the Heavenly Rock Cave
2010
Urashima Taro
2009
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
2008
Hoichi the Earless
2007
Wolf Forest, Basket Forest, and Thief Forest
2006
Wildcat and the Acorns
2005
The Spirit of Annual Events
2004
The Spirit of the Folktale
2003
The Mind of Poetry
2002
Mind of the Way
2001
Daruma-san ga Koronda!
2000
Cradle Song
1999
The Spirit of Matsuri
1998
The Music of the Spheres
1997
Illustrator’s Profile
Arata Tani
Born in 1965 in Fukuoka Prefecture. Since embarking on a career as an illustrator in 1992, his work has appeared in a variety of media.
These include newspaper and magazine ads (Kigure New Circus, Miyazaki Prefecture, etc.), posters, essay series illustrations (Nishinippon Shimbun, etc.), promotional brochure covers (VISA, Kyushu Labor Bank, etc.), book-cover designs (the “Language Development and Disabilities” series, TAISHUKAN Publishing Co., Ltd.), logo design (Kaneta Knives and Tools, etc.), T-shirt graphics (DREAMER, GMT, etc.), and more.
His work has also been featured in solo as well as group exhibitions.
Solo Exhibitions: ACROS Fukuoka (2005), Fukuoka Prefectural Museum of Art (2009), Institut français du Japon – Kyushu (2013), and others
Kenji Matsuda
Illustrator. Kenji Matsuda was born in 1940 in Kita-Kamakura. When he was five years old, the war forced his evacuation to Shinjo in Yamagata Prefecture, where he remained until after high school. His childhood memories, the landscape of his imagination, continue to provide a wellspring for his art.
He has authored numerous illustrated and song books, including Matsuri no kokoro [The Spirit of Matsuri], Yurikago no uta [Cradle Song], Ichigo Ichie [Mind of the Way], Matsuri da wasshoi! [The Spirit of Annual Events], Donguri to Yamaneko [Wildcat and the Acorns], Oinomori to Zarumori, Nusutomori [Wolf Forest, Basket Forest, and Thief Forest], Kwaidan Miminashi Hoichi [Hoichi-the Earless], Taketori monogatari [The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter] and Urashima Taro [Urashima Taro].