The Japan Foundation happily invites you to the Book launch of Japanese “Manga” Comics “Yunagi no machi Sakura no Kuni”, translated in Hindi by Ms. Tomoko Kikuchi. It will also mark the beginning of exhibition of comic installations of the book.

Book Launch :

Date : 6th August, 2013
Time : 18:30
Venue: The Japan Foundation, New Delhi
Exhibition:

Date : 7th – 31st August, 2013 (closed on Sundays and Public holidays)
Time : 11:00 ~ 19:00
Venue: The Japan Foundation, New Delhi

Japanese Comics “Yunagi no machi Sakura no Kuni” is a unification of two stories. The first story is Yunagi no machi (Nirav sandhya ka shahar) and other one is Sakura no kuni (Sakura ka desh).

The first story Yunagi no machi narrates the tale of a lady who got bombed in Hiroshima in 1945. And even after a period of 10 years her pain refuses to go away. The protagonist Minami thinks why she is alive when all her family members, relatives and friends have died. Then one day she fall ill as the consequence of radiation exposure and pass away.In coastal cities like Hiroshima, every morning and evening the air tends to stop making everything lifeless (Nirav). It was one such lifeless evening when Minami passed away. The author, Fumiyo Kono writes “such lifeless evening will continue in Hiroshima and so will the story…”.
The second story “Sakura no kuni” proves this further. This story revolves around those children whose parents suffered radioactive exposure during the atomic attack. These children always lived with the fear of radiation related diseases. Even in today’s era no one can depict what health problem /disease can be caused to them. These children even had to face discrimination at the time of important events like marriages.
The author “Fumiyo Kono” was born in Hiroshima. Initially, she ignored the nuclear attack related problems but eventually she realised it to be difficult. It was after shifting to Tokyo, she realised the fact that only people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki knows the real pain of atomic bombing. Finally she decided to write this story.

It was adapted as a live-action film directed by Kiyoshi Sasabe released in 2007, called Yunagi City, Sakura Country in English. It has also been adapted as a novel by Kei Kunii and as a radio drama produced in 2006.

Fumiyo Kono

Born in Hiroshima in September 1968, Kono began her career as a comic artist in 1995 with the short story “Machikado hanadayori” (News of the Blossoming of the Street Corner Flowers). Her major work is Pippira-cho (pippra Notes) (complete in two volumes). She enjoys frequenting the library and watching the sunset with her pet canary Tamanowo on her shoulder. Her favourite quote remains –“ I have felt much desire to write about the world’s victorious and glorious people, but rather those whose true glory remains hidden.”

Tomoko Kikuchi
She has been in India since 1992, completed her B.A. in Maharani college, Jaipur and M.A. to Ph.D Hindi literature in J.N.U., New Delhi in 2005. Now she writes articles and translations in Hindi newspapers and magazines. Published Hindi books : “Mahadevi Varma ki Vishvadrishti”, “Hiroshima ka Dard” (translation of famous Japanese story book “Hiroshima no pika”), “Kaneko Misuzu ki kavitaen” (poems of Japanese female poet). Hindi dub of Japanese animation film : “Saras par charh kar” (story of Hiroshima atomic bomb tragedy). She was awarded 9th World Hindi Conference in South Africa in 2012.

First Edition                      : 2004
Author                                : Fumiyo Kono
Hindi Translator               : Tomoko Kikuchi
Publisher                          : Futabasha, Tokyo Japan
Hindi translation Publisher in India : Vani Prakashan
Awards                              : Grand Prize for manga at the 2004 Japan Media Arts Festival
2005 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Creative Award.