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.
Participating (in alphabetical order) : Moyoko Anno, Aurélia Aurita, Frédéric Boilet, Nicolas de Crécy, Étienne Davodeau, Little Fish, Emmanuel Guibert, Kazuichi Hanawa, Daisuke Igarashi, Taiyo Matsumoto, Fabrice Neaud, Benoît Peeters, David Prudhomme, François Schuiten, Joann Sfar, Kan Takahama, Jiro Taniguchi.
Colaboran (en orden alfabético) : Moyoko Anno, Aurélia Aurita, Frédéric Boilet, Nicolas de Crécy, Étienne Davodeau, Little Fish, Emmanuel Guibert, Kazuichi Hanawa, Daisuke Igarashi, Taiyo Matsumoto, Fabrice Neaud, Benoît Peeters, David Prudhomme, François Schuiten, Joann Sfar, Kan Takahama y Jiro Taniguchi.