Manga artist Mari Yamazaki, second from left, Hokkaido University President Kiyohiro Houkin, third from left, and others take part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the children’s library’s opening ceremony in Sapporo’s Kita Ward, Aug. 1, 2026. (Mainichi/Daiki Kobayashi)
SAPPORO — Manga artist Mari Yamazaki, best known for “Thermae Romae,” has been appointed honorary director of a newly opened children’s library on a Hokkaido University campus in this northern Japan city.
Children’s Book Forest Sapporo – Hokkaido University, a library where children can browse and read books freely, opened Aug. 1 on the university’s Sapporo Campus. About 50 people, including university and city officials, attended the opening ceremony.
The facility covers about 350 square meters. The building has a curved design intended to avoid damaging trees on the campus. It houses approximately 15,000 volumes, including children’s books and illustrated encyclopedias.
The newly opened Children’s Book Forest Sapporo – Hokkaido University is seen on the university’s Sapporo Campus in the city’s Kita Ward, Aug. 1, 2026. (Mainichi/Daiki Kobayashi)
The library was designed by world-renowned architect Tadao Ando and will be jointly operated by the university and the Sapporo Municipal Government.
It is the sixth in a series of Children’s Book Forest libraries established through Ando’s donations across Japan, and the first to be built on a university campus.
At the ceremony, university President Kiyohiro Houkin said, “This is a one-of-a-kind place where children can learn alongside university students and researchers. I am grateful to everyone who devoted themselves to this project.”
In a video message, Ando said, “It is a small but heartwarming library. I hope young people will read books here and be ambitious.”
Some of the approximately 15,000 volumes, including children’s books and illustrated encyclopedias, housed at Children’s Book Forest Sapporo – Hokkaido University are seen in Sapporo’s Kita Ward, Aug. 1, 2026. (Mainichi/Daiki Kobayashi)
Yamazaki previously taught Italian at the university. “I hope many people, children and adults alike, will visit from both within and outside Hokkaido,” she said.
Admission is free, and visitors are admitted in a time-based rotation system. The library is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and closed on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month. Books cannot be checked out.
(Japanese original by Daiki Kobayashi, Hokkaido News Department)
AloJapan.com