Outstanding works from the 34th National Reading Impression Painting Contest (organized by the Japan School Library Association, The Mainichi Newspapers and others) are on display through the 22nd of this month in the show window in front of Mainichi Hall on the first basement floor. Pieces by pupils and students from elementary through high school are richly colored and accomplished. For adults whose sensibility can wear thin, they are quite stimulating.
The contest drew 672,567 entries from 6,138 schools in 38 prefectures excluding Kyushu and Yamaguchi. Twelve works are on view in the building: four Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Awards and eight excellence awards. At the February awards ceremony in Tokyo, Tsumugi Sato, a second-grader at Okura Elementary School in Asago, Hyogo Prefecture, and a minister's award winner, spoke for the recipients: "I am glad I can make people happy by drawing. I want to keep drawing lots of pictures I love and make everyone happy."
The contest began in the Kinki region in 1983 to "nurture reading and expression by rendering the emotion of reading in painting." The first year had 145,106 entries from 3,717 schools; as the area gradually expanded, participation grew.