Today’s post comes to you from Jackie Friedman Mighdoll:

In working on picture books, I’ve always been taught to focus on the narrative arc, including a problem or challenge, some attempts to solve it, a climax and ultimately a satisfying ending. But reading Japanese picture books shows me there are other ways to make great books! Today’s picture books invite readers into a surreal world full of awe-inspiring details. They are all about mood-–no conflict or problem required. Sometimes that’s what I want most, a journey to a delightful alternate place with many new sights and sounds to appreciate.

The House with 100 Stories by Toshio Iwai / Translated from the Japanese by Yukiko Hanes (Holiday House 2023)

The first surprise in reading this book comes at the very opening. This book opens vertically, a clue that we’re going somewhere a little different–up up up! A young boy named Tochi receives a letter from the sky and is invited to play with someone at the top of a house with 100 stories, so he follows the map and enters a tall house. As he climbs to the top of the house he passes through ten stories on each double page spread, all of which are brightly numbered. The first ten stories belong to the mice and on each floor the mice are doing something different: eating, cooking, working out, taking a bubble bath, doing laundry and more. Every double spread of ten stories is home to a new type of animal, all living their best lives.

Is this a counting book? Absolutely. The numbers to 100 are clearly laid out in groups of ten. But the counting here goes slowly, because there’s so much to see in the illustrations. There are squirrels cutting bonsai trees and woodpeckers carving statues. There’s a ladybug painting a spotted room and a snail celebrating a first birthday with a roll cake, of course. 

Chirri & Chirra: Under the Sea by Kaya Doi / Translated from the Japanese by David Boyd (Enchanted Lion, 2020)

Chirri & Chirra: Among the Cherry Blossoms by Kaya Doi / Translated from the Japanese by David Boyd (Enchanted Lion, 2026)

The Wall Street Journal includes Chirri & Chirra books in their list of the best books of the last 20 years, calling them “the most beguiling picture-book series.” In each of the nine books, two girls, Chirri and Chirra, ride bicycles and explore a fantastical place.   

In the Under the Sea book, they ride through a cave into an underwater world. They sit on seashell sofas, and they eat whimsical underwater creations such as “sea-spray parfait a la conch.” They watch a sea musical where colorful fish sing and dance. They visit a treasure trove and are given gifts to take home. And that’s it! There’s no tension, and nothing bad happens. But the details are finely drawn in colored pencils and pastels and the adventure is joyful, colorful, and surprising.  

In Among the Cherry Blossoms, Chirri and Chirra ride out among the wildflowers to see the cherry blossoms. They discover a food truck and partake in some pink cherry blossom-themed treats. Then on they go on their bicycle adventure “dring-dring, dring-dring,” spiraling up through the cherry tree to a sakura-themed salon where they have their nails done, sample perfumes, and dye chiffon scarves. Parakeets, poodles, squirrels and other woodland creatures help them enjoy the day. And when the wind blows all the pink petals down at the end, there’s no melancholy: “Hooray! Hurrah! And so a new season begins.”

Sato the Rabbit: Morning Light by Yuki Ainoya / Translated from the Japanese by Michael Blaskowsky (Enchanted Lion, 2025)

Sato the Rabbit, Morning Light is the fourth book in this series about a rabbit-boy, Sato, who looks carefully at the magic in the world around him. In the first of two stories in this book, Sato plucks a beam of morning light from between his curtains and uses it for the ordinary–coffee stirring–and the extraordinary–sunshine gathering. Later in the day, he puts mushrooms on his light-beam stick to roast over a campfire for his dinner, a roasted mushroom and stars sandwich!

In the second story, Sato wakes up to discover that his room is a small lighthouse floating on the sea. This time the light that comes through his small window is in orange and blue cubes. As the cubes flicker, birds bring him fruit. And as they flash, fish bring him extraordinary shells that make music, clouds, and a gorgeous sunset. The artwork, awash with blues, yellows, and oranges, blends the magical and the real and reminds readers of how much magic can indeed be found in nature.

I’ve written more about the first book Sato the Rabbit on the World Kid Lit blog.

Jackie Friedman Mighdoll is passionate about discovering and sharing the diversity of the world with children. She writes books for kids, translates from Japanese to English, and edits the World Kid Lit blog. In a prior career, she founded a program teaching world languages to children, starting with newborns. Read more of her writing about the world of children’s books at her Substack, On Beyond.