Shigeo Nishimura

Shigeo Nishimura was born in 1947 in Kochi, Japan. While studying commercial science at university, he realized that what he really wanted to do was draw. His encounter with the reknowned picture book artist Seiji Tajima led him to illustrate picture books. One of his first picture books was “Ofuroyasan” (At the Bath House) published by Fukuinkan Shoten in 1983, the first of a series of books without words where children can delight in observing details.

The series “E de miru Nihon no rekishi” (The History of Japan through Pictures), a bird’s eye view of history published by Fukuinkan Shoten, won the Grand Prix at the Japan Picture Book Prize in 1985. In 1995 he illustrated Masamoto Nasu’s text on the atomic bomb, “Hiroshima”, published also in English by Fukuinkan Shoten. This picure book has been awarded with the Sankei Children’s Literature Prize. His picture book on a night express, “Yakōressha” , “Minna de asobō” (Let’s Play, text Akihisa Aruki) published by Fukuinkan Shoten, “Mushimushi densha” (The Insect Train, text by Rintaro Uchida) published by Doshinsha, are some of his most loved books.