Cheering ourselves up through children's books: Bookbird helps quake-hit North Japan

Like many people, I became more aware of the importance of books for children when I had a child of my own. Around me, I could see that many Japanese children did not enjoy reading. They preferred to play computer games or surf the Internet. Even infants as young as two or three years of age would sit watching TV alone, without talking to anybody. I wanted to tell other parents how important it is for children to read and to converse with other people. At that time, I had been working for a major publishing company for 15 years, and I wanted to use my editorial knowledge to help build a better future for children, starting by improving their reading environment. As I result, I established my own publishing company, Mightybook, in 2004.

I joined IBBY and attended their World Congress in Denmark in 2008. There, in Copenhagen, I took the opportunity to talk to IBBY's Bookbird editors and attended a meeting with them. As a result, in 2009, I started to publish Bookbird Japan: the Japanese version of IBBY's Journal of International Children's Literature. I did this because I thought that knowing about children's books from other countries would be important and would motivate people to choose interesting books for their children, and to remind people of the importance of reading to children. Bookbird Japan has gone over well, and I was proud to compile a readers' opinion report of Bookbird Japan for the IBBY World Congress in Santiago de Conpostela, Spain, in 2010. Many librarians commented that they appreciate the Japanese translation. Many mothers' networks also promote Bookbird Japan: they say it provides the kinds of information they need.

My staff and I held a party to celebrate the first anniversary of Bookbird Japan, Volume 5 on 7th March 2011, a week before it was due to go on sale at bookstores. We felt very happy to be enabling Japanese people to learn how the world has been thinking about securing their children's future through children's books.

Japan after 11 March 2011.

Just four days later, on March 11th, at 2:46pm, I was in my Tokyo office preparing for a JBBY children's book fair launch the following day. Suddenly I felt a shaking that I was not used to. Then there was an awful shuddering noise as books fell from the bookshelves. The shakes came in two or three continuous waves. It felt too dangerous to stay in the building. Images of Christchurch, New Zealand with its many destroyed buildings were in my mind as I escaped from the office building. Outside I could see the tall buildings bending like rubber sticks. A wall surrounding the neighboring building fell down.

Japan after 11 March 2011.

All the public transportation in Tokyo stopped. Once everything had calmed down, I walked home. It took me nearly four hours; normally it takes just 40 minutes by train. I got there at half past nine at night. Some of my employees said I should not have left my office, but should have stayed in a safe place. I had to go because my son, Taiga, is still very young, just in the 6th grade at primary school. I thought he would probably be at school, but could not be sure because the telephone lines were down after the earthquake, and no one knew how much damage each area of the city had suffered. Luckily he was safe and waiting for me alone in the house.

Japan after 11 March 2011.

Japan after 11 March 2011.

All over the house, drawers had been opened and broken glass and dishes were spread over the floor. Taiga was sweeping the floor when I arrived. I couldn't stop my tears. He said that he had remained at school for a while after the earthquake, and then went to his...