Kamishibai Man; The Boy in the Garden, Allen Say

Both of these by Allen Say are sweet stories of Japan that aren't set in a mythic past, or in a hectic multicultural super-technological present.  They're in that sweet spot just between, where anything can happen.

Kamishibai is an old street-performers' art, somewhat like the American idea of flannelboards, silhouette theatres, or shadow-box presentations.  Drawings on screens are placed in a box frame, with others behind them, and the progression of the drawings illustrates stories that the Kamishibai Man tells as he draws children in to get them to buy his candy and small toys so he can make a living.  A lot of Kamishibai artists moved into anime or manga when those avenues opened up, and now the art form is mainly used in schools or as a demonstration of history.

This story follows an old man who used to sell candies in a small city, before the arrival of TV took all the children inside.  In a nostalgic moment, he decides to head into town to tell stories again, and he remembers the way things were as he travels.  Once there, everything is changed, and there are no children in sight.   However, the business-people remember him from their childhood, and he even makes the evening news as he tells his story and passes out his candy as he did in the past.  Sweet and a little sad, just like all of Allen Say's work, with dignified artwork that uses a softer edge to show memories, in contrast with the clear crisp detail of the present day.

This could be really interesting to pair with an American story of similar time and culture changes, such as When I Was Young in the Mountains, by Cynthia Rylant.


With The Boy in the Garden, Say shows a little boy re-imagining the Japanese fairy-tale "The Snow Crane," where a man rescues a crane from a trap, and soon meets and marries a beautiful woman who weaves fabric that lets them become comfortable, then well-off.  When the man wishes to become even richer, and spies on his wife while she reluctantly works, she chastises him, changes back into her original crane form, and flies away forever. 

In Say's frame story, the young boy Jiro goes with his father to wish a nearby rich old man a Happy New Year.  While the adults visit, Jiro explores the beautiful gardens (seeing a sculpture of a snowy crane) and eventually finds the tiny teahouse, where he has an adventure in the snowy night with a beautiful woman.  Jiro struggles to change the fairy-tale's sad ending with his foreknowledge, and to protect the woman, but he is interrupted by his father, who has come to fetch him back home.  In the end, the father and son walk back through the garden together, commenting on the lifelike form of the beautiful crane sculpture.

I think this story would also go well with Willy and the Cardboard Boxes (Lizi Boyd), which also has a small boy entertaining himself with his imagination (and falling asleep in the process) while adults are occupied otherwise.