Japan’s Beloved School Notebook Covers Go thru Overhaul

Toyama, Dec. 19 (Jiji Press)–Loved by many children in Japan for decades for its colorful covers featuring photographs of insects and plants, the Japonica Gakushucho school notebook series has gone through a revamp to now feature illustrations on the covers. Under the theme of coexistence of living organisms, the overhauled notebook covers, introduced in November, will hopefully encourage children to learn about the importance of respecting all people, according to stationery company Showa Note Co. “We hope that the notebook series is something that will support children’s love (for learning),” said an official of the company based in Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture, central Japan. First released in 1970, the Japonica Gakushucho series has sold about 1.4 billion notebooks in total, boasting about a 40 pct share of the country’s school notebook market. On top of the iconic deep green outer frame surrounding the photos of insects and flowers on the cover, the notebooks also included crossover features with a major encyclopedia released by publisher Shogakukan Inc., which spurred their popularity. But some parents complained that they did not want to see photos of insects decorating the notebook covers, while others said that their children were reluctant to use the notebooks. These voices led to a gradual disappearance of insect photos. From 2012, the notebook covers were all photos of plants, except for reprinted versions released for anniversaries. Over the past few years, school notebooks have been used less frequently at schools due to the emergence of digital textbooks and a decline in the number of children. Faced with the need for a drastic revamp to ensure that the school notebook series survives, Showa Note decided to switch the cover photos to illustrations considered visually approachable. “While some people voiced sadness (over the change), our hope that children will develop their love for nature is firmly carried on,” said Yumi Kishida, who was involved in the revamp. There are 39 different new Japonica Gakushucho covers featuring illustrations of animals, birds, flowers, insects and other things. Each cover illustration tells a story, reflecting hopes of stimulating children’s imagination and curiosity, according to Showa Note. The back cover features photos of the things drawn in the illustrations, as well as corresponding explanations. “The illustrations on the cover serve as a gateway that piques the interest (of children), while the explanations on the back cover are designed to fuel their hunger to learn,” Kishida said. The outer frame of the revamped notebooks is color-coordinated depending on the school subject, with notebooks for math in blue and those for Japanese in red. “We hope that (the notebooks) remain forever in children’s memories through our unchanging hopes and our new designs,” Kishida said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]