Hirotaka Nakagawa

Hirotaka Nakagawa (1954–)  is a singer-songwriter as well as a picture-book author. His songs Minna tomodachi (Let’s All Be Friends) and Sekai-jū no kodomo-tachi ga (The Children of the World) have become favorites among children throughout Japan, who respond to his unaffected, rhythmical narratives. He won the Japan Picture Book Awards Grand Prize in 2004 for Naita (I Cried; illustrated by Shinta Chō). His other major works include the Piiman-mura (Green Pepper Village) series and Satsuma no o-imo (Sweet Potatoes), both illustrated by Yasunari Murakami, as well as Sumōman (tr. Sumo Boy, 2006; illustrated by Yoshifumi Hasegawa).