Illustrations of the Strange, Mysterious, and Bizarre for Kids of the Showa Era

Aliens, psychics, the Loch Ness monster, King Kong, the afterworld . . . in Japan from the 1960s to 1970s, a craze for the occult took hold not only of grown-ups but children as well. Children’s magazines and books abounded with depictions of the mysterious and bizarre by such masters as Shigeru Komatsuzaki, Gojin Ishihara, and Takashi Minamimura; though copies were avidly snatched up, they were mostly thrown away after reading, so that the illustrations have largely lived on only in readers’ memories. Now, this collection reproduces that richly imaginative legacy in all its original glory, bringing back the excitement it once inspired for readers to enjoy anew.