Japanese Picture Books That Defined My Childhood

It is a fact that many people, especially us book lovers, will always remember and hold dear certain books that helped to shape our lives during adolescence. But what about the books that we loved as little kids? The books that we made our parents read to us over and over again, the books that were among the first we managed to read on our own? These are the books that we might give to young nieces or nephews, or to friends who are having their first baby. I feel like we don’t talk about these defining children’s books as often, but I’m positive we can all think of at least a few (for me, Stellaluna is one that immediately comes to mind). As the child of immigrants, however, the picture books I grew up with included both English and Japanese selections, which means I can’t share some of my favorites with many of the people around me. Amazingly, I discovered that two wonderful Japanese picture book series that I grew up with and continue to love have been translated to English, and I am here to share them with you!

Guri and Gura (Japanese: Guri to Gura)
Written by Rieko Nakagawa, illustrated by Yuriko Yamawaki, translated by Peter Howlett and Richard McNamara
My strongest memories from being a toddler probably have to do with this book series. My mom would read it to me often and we would sing the words of the story to a melody that she made up. To this day, I am able to sing this “song” we created together, and this book remains very close to my heart because of it. Guri and Gura is a picture book series that began in 1967 and follows a pair of twin anthropomorphized mice. In the first book of the series, Guri and Gura find a giant egg in the forest and use it to make a cake. Similarly, other books in the series follow the pair as they go on various adventures and befriend other woodland creatures. The storylines are always very pure and sweet, and have little to no deeper meaning behind them. Yamawaki’s illustrations are also very simplistic and use a limited color palette. This very minimalist approach, however, is what I have always loved about these books. They are simply cute and fun, and evidently widely accessible and beloved, as they have been translated into multiple languages, including Korean, Spanish, French, and even Esperanto.
Note: The illustrations for the Japanese edition of the first book of the series are credited to Yuriko Ōmura (married name).

One Stormy Night (Japanese: Arashi no Yoru ni)