Every year, at the beginning of February, a traditional Japanese festival takes place and it is called Setsubun. The word setsubun (節分) means ‘division of seasons’, in this case, the division is between winter and spring. This is because according to the old Japanese lunar calendar, it was at this time of the year when spring would begin. 

Japan is a country that is rooted in the culture of book publishing. Hence, it is easy to find a Japanese book on any topic imaginable. Despite the fact that Japanese is the national language of only one country, in the whole world, this prolific publishing culture is also evident in the field of children’s literature where several beautiful books on setsubun are available. However, it is uncommon to find books on such deeply traditional Japanese topics that are also available in other languages.

At the GIIS Tokyo Nishi-Kasai Library, we have the practice of engaging our students (especially the young ones - Grades 1 and 2) in the habit of reading, which is done through storytelling and read-aloud sessions. Moreover, as much as we can, we also like to intertwine the topics of the stories we read with the relevant cultural events that take place around the students, at a given time. Therefore this February, with the intention of helping bridge the gap between the students’ different background cultures, we wanted them to read some stories related to setsubun, in English. However, we did realize that none of the lavishly illustrated Japanese books on this topic was available in English.

Our librarian at Nishi-Kasai campus, Mr Samuel Acosta, decided to take a proactive approach; so, he translated and edited one book called 「せつぶんだ まめまきだ」 (Setsubunda Mamemakida), in English, which he later read with the students from CBSE grades 1 and 2 during the first week of February.

GIIS TOKYO COMMUNICATIONS