The joys of Japanese children's books

And 4 favorites from my childhood 📚

My copy of 小さなピスケのはじめてのたび (Little Pisuke’s First Adventure)

We moved into our home two weeks ago and by early the next morning, I was plopped on the hardwood floor, unpacking boxes of children’s books. You know, priorities!

These books are from both my childhood and in recent years, local thrift stores. I started growing my collection before becoming a parent, so when I gained a stepson, I already had a medley of stories to share with him.¹

You can trace this love for children’s books from me to my mom and then right along to her mom, my obaachan. Both women are responsible for growing our home library, and I love them for it.

Obaachan, my dearest grandma, would send us girls care packages across thousands of miles. She did this over and over again. We ooohed upon opening rice crackers, pickled plums, and little hard candies. All delightful, happy little surprises. And often, once we reached a box’s bottom, we’d find a Japanese children’s book carefully chosen for us. The best non-perishable gift.

My mom would read aloud these stories, stopping to answer each what does that mean?? as I grew my fluency in Japanese. Over time, I was fluent enough to read some of these books to myself.²

Having access to these words and worlds was a gift—especially as a biracial kid. My friends back then were mostly white and American, so they could see themselves and their culture represented in the majority of books around. I couldn’t. I was familiar with popular titles like Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, The Rainbow Fish, and Blueberries for Sal. Wonderful books, but it was unfortunate no one (aside from my family) knew or understood the titles I cherished at home.

Today, I want to change that. 🥰

I’m going to share four Japanese books I loved as a kid. To my knowledge, only one of these has an English translation. Although they aren’t books you’d likely have for yourself (unless you read Japanese), I thought you’d enjoy hearing why they were so special!

My favorites 📚

Little Pisuke’s First Adventure
written & illustrated by Makiko Futaki

This book is my all-time favorite. Little Pisuke carries out her family’s tradition of solo adventuring and finding a new place to call home. Pisuke embarks on the classic hero’s journey, enduring all types of challenges till she finds (and remakes) home at last.

The gorgeous spreads have always enamored me. Each illustration has this dreamlike quality, and I remember trying to find new details every time I flipped through the book. Whenever I move and transform the space into something homey, I think about the scene pictured at the top of this newsletter.

Today, I realized—to my absolute delight—that the author-illustrator was one of Studio Ghibli’s animators (My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke…). Now I love the book even more.

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Little Daruma & Little Tengu
written & illustrated by Satoshi Kako

In Japan, daruma are typically red, round dolls made of papier-mâché. They represent good luck. (I used to own one myself!) Tengu are creatures from Shinto belief which, according to Wikipedia, “usually falls somewhere in between a large, monstrous bird and a wholly anthropomorphized being, often with a red face or an unusually large or long nose.”

Now in the past, I had no idea about any of this history. All I knew was that in this humorous book, Daruma was desperately jealous of Tengu and did almost whatever it took to become like him. Daruma combs through dozens of fans, hats, shoes, and flowers to find the right look to imitate Tengu. I loved seeing all of the options he could pick from. Imagine trying to get a nose that long (the secret is mochi)! Good luck, Daruma. 😏

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Maa-chan’s Long Hair
written & illustrated by Hōko Takadono

Speaking of long—Maa-chan’s fantasy hair beats any record out there! In reality, Maa-chan has a bob, but she brags to her friends about what her hair would be like if she grew it out. I used to envision my hair just like hers, braided and used as a clothes or fishing line. It would take about 10 people to help brush, and shampooing would turn that hair into a skyscraper-sized soft serve.

The storytelling is so whimsical and the illustrations are intricate. You’d just get lost in all the details! (And hair.) As you probably noticed, I’m a fan of detailed illustrations, and Japanese children’s books certainly come through in that department.

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Poorarisan and the Muddy Piglets
written by Eiko Kadono / illustrated by Suguru Fukuda

This isn’t technically a picture book, though there are black and white sketches on many of the pages. Sadly, I lost my copy and can’t remember much of the story at all. I couldn’t find information online and it seems like it might be out of print now. Womp womp. But I wanted to give Poorarisan a mention because this was a step up for me (in between picture and chapter books), and I remember feeling so proud I could read it! If my memory is right, I think Poorarisan might be a… ghost nanny??

I did learn the author wrote Kiki’s Delivery Service which was then made into a Studio Ghibli movie. Hooray for the internet and new discoveries!

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Turning the page to you 📖

• What was your favorite children’s book as a kid?

• If you liked today’s post, go ahead and click that little heart! This is so helpful in gauging interest for future ideas.

Till next time!
—E.T.

1. If you’re looking for a guide on how to raise readers, visit Can we read? by

Sarah Miller

. 110% recommend.

2. Well, as long as I skipped over any kanji I hadn’t memorized.