■International Picture Books Forum
"The Present Situation of Picture Books in the World"

	The first Congress of International Research Society for Children’s Literature (IRSCL) was held in Asia this summer. Researchers of children’s literature from all over the world gathered in Kyoto. The IICLO held an international picture books forum, "The Present Situation of Picture Books in the World", where researchers from 11 countries:
	Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Indonesia, Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan and UK introduced what they considered to be the most noteworthy picture books from their own countries. Aided by overhead projections they described the contents and explained the appeal of these books and the reasons why they had recommended them.
	The audience was able to both appreciate the tradition and the cultural and social background of the various countries and consider the new modes of expression and the cultural meaning of their picture books. There were 169 participants in total, 67 from 14 overseas countries and 102 from Japan, including those from the IRSCL. The books introduced on that day can be borrowed from our children’s reading room at the IICLO.

The IICLO exhibited the mainly translated picture books of the 14 participating countries on that day and original picture books from Asia, so that the participants could pick them up and read them freely. After the presentation, the overseas participants looked around the IICLO and listened to a lecture by our staff about the reference books held there and the history of Japanese children’s books.