Outstanding works from the 35th National Reading Impression Painting Contest (organized by the Japan School Library Association, The Mainichi Newspapers and others) are on display through April 22 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 all accomplished.
The contest drew 584,972 entries from 5,515 schools in 38 prefectures excluding Kyushu and Yamaguchi. Twelve works are on view: four Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Awards and eight excellence awards. At the February awards ceremony in Tokyo, Konatsu Chigira, a sixth-grader at Kita Elementary School in Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture, spoke for the winners: "Books show me worlds I do not yet know. I want to keep a book beside me every day."
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; participation has grown as the area expanded.