The Day I Bought A Star ( Hoshi o Katta Hi / 星をかった日 / 2006 ) is a children’s book written and illustrated by long time Ghibli collaborator/artist Naohisa Inoue (井上直久), who also worked with Hayao Miyazaki on the animated film Whisper of the Heart (1995).
Set in the quasi fantasy/sci-fi world of Iblard, a recurring universe often featured in many of Inoue’s art work, a young boy named Nona purchases a planet seedling at a market from a group of trader dwarves. Unable to pay for the seedling in full, Nona makes a deal with the dwarves, promising to host a grand party for them when the planet is fully raised.
Hayao Miyazaki was so taken with this story that he adapted it into an animated short of the same name, and is now one of the films that can only been seen at the Saturn Theater of Ghibli Museum. I myself saw it back in 2009 when I was still living and working in Tokyo.
I’m a big fan of Naohisa Inoue’s art work as well as the anime adaptation of this book, but it has been out of print for quite a while, so when it recently came back into stock on Amazon Japan I moved quickly to get a copy. If you’re new to Inoue-san’s work, I also recommend checking out two of his other art books that I’ve reviewed, IBLARD as well as Hikari No Tsubu.
“The Day I Bought A Star – Naohisa Inoue Picture Book 星をかった日 井上直久 絵本” details :
Dimensions – 21 x 1.2 x 25.8 cm
Softcover, 160 pages
In Japanese language
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You might also be interested in these items :
IBLARD – The World Of Inoue Naohisa Art Book Review
Ghibli Museum Anime Shorts Part I – The Day I Bought A Star
Hikari No Tsubu – Inoue Naohisa Art Book Review
Inoue Naohisa Art Exhibition – Summer 2019, Tokyo.
The Food Of Ghibli Films Picture Book Review
September 30th, 2021 at 3:35 am
The synopsis of that story is so charming! Feels like a nice bed time story. Too bad I don’t know japanese and won’t go to the museum anytime soon ^^
October 2nd, 2021 at 3:47 am
Maxime – I think the short film will still be charming even if you don’t understand Japanese ! I hope you’ll be able to visit the museum some day ! ( but be sure to check the screening schedule of the film, as it’s only screened on certain days )