A 35-year-old Japanese illustrator is making his mark in Britain, where last year he was awarded the Macmillan Prize for Children's Books, a prize regarded as a gateway to success for picture book illustrators.
     Judges praised Cosei Kawa's approach, which mixes Japanese cartoon elements with a British penchant for imparting life lessons to young readers. Buoyed by his success, Cosei is now hoping to breathe new life into the picture book industry in Japan, where games and animated cartoons currently dominate.
     ''Picture books go straight to children's hearts,'' said Cosei, whose real name is Kosei Kawakubo, at his home in Falmouth, about 400 kilometers southwest of London.
     Of his award-winning book ''Letter Eater,'' he said, ''I tried to create something that is only possible in picture books, and that can't be done in video or film.''
     In 2000, the Tokyo native quit a major Japanese communication company and began dedicating himself to his long-held dream of drawing pictures. Based on his experiences traveling in developing countries while a university student, he wrote a picture book based on the theme of ending the gap between rich and poor.
     But a Japanese publishing company said the book was ''too blatant'' and asked him to come up with a lighter theme. In 2003, he won a prize for Heart Thief, a book with an altruistic message, and this gave him all the encouragement he needed.
     Following this success, he came to England to study, but was forced to rethink his approach once more. ''You don't appear to be thinking about anything when you draw,'' he was told, and was advised to pick up on environmental or social themes.
     In Europe, where the manga and anime scene is not as developed as in Japan, the children's picture book market is flourishing, and new modes of expression are constantly being adopted.
     Meanwhile, British illustration agencies have praised the spirit of innovation in Japanese illustrations. But Cosei said, ''Despite their coolness, Japanese belittle themselves and admire the West too much.''
     In Japan, Cosei's books were full of pictures, but in more recent works the white spaces stand out, a reflection of concepts that Japanese regard as important, such as nothingness. ''I don't want to create books that force a message on people, but those that exude the pleasure I derive from creating them,'' he said.
     ''In the future,'' he added, ''I would like to draw picture books in Japan that will reach out to the world and be enjoyed down the generations.''
==Kyodo