To mark Kodansha's 90th anniversary, we established the Nationwide Traveling Reading Troupe. Designed to stimulate young children's interest in books, the troupe consists of two caravan cars that make their way around Japan. Now in their fifth circuit of the country, the two volunteer-staffed caravans will have stopped at an astonishing 10,000 locations by 2008, covering a distance equal to 11 circuits of the earth or a one-way trip to the moon.
Everywhere they go, the book-laden caravans are met by smiling children eager to enjoy performances ranging from book-readings to traditional kami-shibai (plays with picture cards). In an age where concerns are being voiced about children drifting away from the printed word, the Reading Troupe offers them a chance to discover just how much fun books can be. |
The collection of the Kodansha Noma Memorial Museum consists of three major categories. First, there are important works by some of the greatest modern Japanese painters, Taikan Yokoyama, Gyokudo Kawai, Takeji Fujishima and Saburosuke Okada; secondly, there are exhibitions of manuscripts, documents and texts from Kodansha's history; and finally, the museum has a collection of illustrations by Yutaka Murakami, a leading illustrator whose evocative works in India ink and water color are regarded as classics of the genre. The Museum's restful Japanese garden is another popular feature. |
Libraries up and down the country suffer from a shortage of books, while many schools, nurseries and public facilities also have aging library facilities. In 1989, to commemorate its 80th anniversary, Kodansha started an annual program of donating its own children's titles to libraries. To date, more than 3,000 institutions have benefited from the program.
In 2007, we presented 95 elementary schools with 100 books each, and 47 nurseries with 25 titles each. Kodansha editors always make a careful selection to ensure the best match between the reading material and the institution. Together with the National Traveling Reading Troupe, this program has established itself as a key part of Kodansha's activities to encourage the young to read at the same time as providing enjoyment to youngsters all around Japan.
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Children listening to a book being read aloud.
(Kagamihara City, Gifu Prefecture)
One of the caravan cars makes a stop at Tokyo Midtown in central Tokyo.
The Noma Memorial Museum's exterior.
The Noma Memorial Museum's interior.
The Ehime shinbun Co., LTD
K-Square in the atrium of Kodansha's Tokyo headquarters. 
TOONTOWN in Tokyo Disneyland
Legend of Mythica at Tokyo DisneySea