![]() ![]() In the UK, we might picture something similar to the much-adored sequence of Ladybird Books which have charmed and informed children down through the ages. To call the book a novel though, is in many ways to obscure what it really is – as the blurb and informative end-note from translator Bruno Navasky instructs us, it is in fact the final instalment in a 16-book series called A Library for Young Japanese Nationals, of which Yoshino was appointed editor-in-chief. ![]() Ultimately though, Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki stand as the singular reason that an English translation of the original How Do You Live? novel now exists. Of course, 2018 is already a good few years into the past now, and judging by recent news that the film version is still only half finished, it seems like we’re still a long way off being able to see the fruits of Miyazaki’s labours. ![]() ![]() This manga version went on to become Japan’s biggest selling book of 2018. In late 2017 and throughout 2018, when it was confirmed by Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki that author Genzaburo Yoshino’s (1899-1981) novel How Do You Live? (1937) would form the basis of Miyazaki’s next film, you literally couldn’t move in Tokyo for seeing the timely release of the manga version (2017) of the story (and its Harry Potter-esque cover art hero) peering out at you from every bookstore, station news kiosk or convenience store. ![]()
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