Award Ceremony for Posters Drawn by School Children on theme of “Mottainai” supported by JICA

A Poster exhibition has been organised as part of the “Reading Caravan” in collaboration with Kodansha Ltd., supported by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) from January 14-28 at the Japan Foundation, New Delhi. The exhibition displayed handmade posters which were drawn by school children from Delhi and Haryana based on their understanding and imagination of the word “Mottainai”.

The prizes were awarded to 5 individuals and 3 groups at the ceremony in which otherwise a total of 120 posters drawn by individuals and 30 posters drawn by groups. The word Mottainai gained popularity with the release of Japanese children picture book “Mottainai Grandma” in India published by National Book Trust (NBT) with the support of JICA in January 2018.

Kengo Akamine, Senior Representative, JICA India, said, “Mottainai is a thoughtful Japanese word that means “wasteful” and the book “Mottainai Grandma“ lays importance on 4Rs – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle & Respect. The purpose of this poster making is to encourage the thought of mindfulness on environment-friendly ways of living. The message of “Mottainai” is also in line with the message of Swachh Bharat Mission, and it advocates better awareness and behaviour towards an environment. JICA understands the importance of inculcating best sanitation practices amongst people and strongly believes that children should be educated that anything of value should not be wasted and should be used with careful consideration. This will help not only children understand the importance of their environment but will encourage everyone to contribute towards building a better world.”

The bilingual edition of children's picture book “Mottainai Grandma” facilitated a storytelling session for over 100 primary school children at Dwarka Metro Station in June 2018.