Benoit Peeters

Seventeen authors (nine from France or French-speaking countries, eight from Japan) brought together in the same book, a succession of freely created short stories about the same universe: Japan. The French, of course, journeyed to Japan for the occasion. Each cartoonist was sent for two weeks to a different city in the archipelago (Joann Sfar in Tôkyô, Emmanuel Guibert in Kyôto, Nicolas de Crécy in Nagoya, etc.) to bring back an original creation. The Japanese tell us about their district, the city where they live or where they originally come from (Kazuichi Hanawa's story being about the northern island of Hokkaido, Jiro Taniguchi's about the town of Tottori, etc.) The result is often inspired, always surprising: Japan through new eyes. "Japan" will appear simultaneously in French, Japanese, Spanish, Italian and English. Along with "A Patch Of Dreams" by Hideji Oda, it is the first step in a series of international creations with left-to-right reading direction, created for us by some of the best European and Japanese comic book artists. List of included short stories: At the Seaside - TAKAHAMA Kan The Gateway - David Prudhomme Summer Sky - TANIGUCHI Jiro Now I Can Die! - Aurélia Aurita Osaka 2034 - François Schuiten & Benoît Peeters Shin.Ichi. - Emmanual Guibert The New Gods - Nicolas de Crécy Kankichi - MATSUMOTO Taiyo The Tokyo of Qualtérou - Joann Sfar The Sunflower - Little Fish The Song of the Crickets - ANNO Moyoko In Love Alley - Frédéric Boilet The City of Trees - Fabrice Neaud The Festival of the Bell-Horses - IGARASHI Daisuke In the Deep Forest - HANAWA Kazuichi Sapporo Fiction - Étienne Davodeau