Asian Publishers Week
Participant
Yamada Tomoka
Country : Japan
Company : Gakken Inc.
Job Title : Children’s books editor
E-mail : t.miyata@gakken.co.jp
Work Experience in Publishing
I was in charge of publishing the 29th and 30th volumes of the “Masterpieces to Read by Age 10” series, “Les Misérables” and “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”. Additionally, I oversaw the publication of a revised new edition of the children’s story “Tantan’s Adventure,” originally published in the 1970s. The authors of “Tantan’s Adventure” are Nakagawa Rieko and Yamawaki Yuriko, who also created the “Guri and Gura” series. Furthermore, I published a disaster prevention picture book written in simple language that even five-year-olds can read. The title is “A Lifetime of Safety Rules Picture Book: Disaster Prevention.” This book teaches children how to respond in the event of a disaster when they are separated from their parents, such as on the way to school or at a park, through illustrations. Recently, I published the Japanese translation of “K-pop Confidential,” a young adult novel set in the K-pop industry, originally published in the United States. Currently, I am working on a children’s book featuring “Obakene,” a popular character among Japanese elementary school students. In this way, I am involved in a wide range of genres within children’s products. At the same time, I continue to explore sales promotion strategies on social media. My job—and my hobby—is to think about how to get children to pick up books and enjoy them.
Current Projects
I was in charge of publishing the 29th and 30th volumes of the “Masterpieces to Read by Age 10” series, Les Misérables and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Additionally, I oversaw the publication of a revised new edition of the children’s story “Tanta’s Expedition,” originally published in the 1970s. The authors of “Tanta’s Expedition” are Nakagawa Rieko and Yamawaki Yuriko, who also created the “Guri and Gura” series. Furthermore, I published a disaster prevention picture book written in simple language that even five-year-olds can read. The title is “A Lifetime of Safety Rules Picture Book: Disaster Prevention.” This book teaches children how to respond in the event of a disaster when they are separated from their parents, such as on the way to school or at a park. Recently, I published the Japanese translation of “K-pop Confidential,” a young adult novel set in the K-pop industry, originally published in the United States. Currently, I am working on a children’s book featuring “Obake-nu,” a popular character among Japanese elementary school students. In this way, I am involved in a wide range of genres within children’s products. At the same time, I continue to explore sales promotion strategies on social media. My job—and my hobby—is to think about how to get children to pick up books and enjoy them.
Main Interest
Since I have loved reading since I was a child, even now that I work as a children’s book editor, I enjoy keeping up with what’s new in children’s literature. Enjoying social media is also one of my hobbies, and among them, I have been almost daily logging into X since I was in high school. However, lately I have been trying digital detox, so that is not always the case. Recently, I have become interested in creative activities such as haiku, novels, and especially tanka. I hold voluntary seminars with my colleagues at work and peers who work at publishing companies, where we give short lectures on our respective hobbies and interests. This has become one of my biggest joys lately.
Experience Related to This Year’s Topic
I believe this year marks the beginning of generative AI being widely accepted among the general public in Japan. I have also started using ChatGPT and Grok. Being able to talk to someone without bothering anyone else about concerns I wouldn’t feel comfortable discussing with friends, or about random thoughts I don’t necessarily want feedback on, was a very refreshing experience for me. There were moments when I found more enjoyment in conversations with AI chatbots than with my husband. While I’m not as deeply engaged as I was when I first started, I believe the era where each person has their own AI agent is not far off.
What would you like to discuss related to this year’s topic?
I would like to discuss the impact of the spread of generative AI on the publishing industry. It may be an impact on the creation of stories, or it may be an impact on the sale of novels. I have also heard that the number of page views on our company’s website has dropped dramatically due to AI summarizing search results on the internet. As a part of the publishing industry, I am very interested in discussing how we will interact with AI in the future and how we will utilize it.
Please name any Korean writers, books and publishing companies that you are familiar with.
Han Kang,Cho Nam-Joo,Park Min-gyu
Your reasons for applying to the Asian Publishers Week 2025.
Japan has been in a publishing slump for quite some time. As someone who works in publishing children’s books, I believe that continuing to create books that appeal to children is one way to overcome Japan’s publishing slump. I wanted an opportunity to talk about publishing culture in Asia and deepen my thinking on the subject. I heard that there is a culture called “text hip” in South Korea. I think it’s wonderful that young people are so interested in books as a medium and that it has become a trend. I would like to explore with all participants how the culture of reading is perceived by children and young people in Asia, and how we can make it more appealing to them.
Your Company Profile Gakken Inc.
Company Address: Shinagawa-ku,Tokyo 2-11-8,Nishigotanda,141-8416
Number of Employees: about 550
Specialty: Publishing
Our company is a comprehensive publishing house. Founder Hideo Furuoka established the publishing house in 1946 based on his belief that in order to encourage children in postwar Japan, it was necessary to provide education that children would truly enjoy. With this belief, he launched the children’s educational magazines “Science” and “Learning.” We have been providing services such as books, magazines, and smartphone applications to meet the diverse “curiosity”—or “joy of learning”—of people of all ages, from children to adults. Among these, we have focused on product development that supports children’s growth, including picture books, children’s books, encyclopedias, educational manga, workbooks, and reference books. We are committed to creating products that contribute to readers living fulfilling lives.
Among our children’s books, particularly popular titles include the short story series titled “5 Minutes Later: An Unexpected Ending,” the reading series titled “The Ultimate Animal Encyclopedia,” which features stories about animal battles, and the series titled “Masterpieces to Read by Age 10,” which rewrites world-renowned classics such as “Anne of Green Gables” and “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” in an easy-to-read format for children.
In addition, we have also published Japanese translations of books published overseas. Recently, we have published “K-pop Confidential,” a young adult novel set in the K-pop idol industry, and the “Spider-Man” novel series, both originally published in the United States.
In the past, we have published Japanese translations of the German children’s book series “Liliane Susewind” and the Japanese translation of Malala Yousafzai’s memoir, “I Am Malala.”
I am a member of the editorial department that primarily publishes children’s novels. Our department is committed to delivering high-quality stories to children living in the modern world. We aim to provide children with the excitement and wonder that can only be found in books, rather than through social media.