Next Sunday it will be exactly a year since an 8.9 Richter scale earthquake and tsunami laid waste to much of Fukushima. Many devastated communities are still struggling to get back on their feet, but freelance illustrator Liina Klauss hopes an activity and colouring book specially created for the prefecture's children will help bring smiles to their faces.
Klauss, who moved to Hong Kong with her husband and children two years ago, feels a special bond with Japan. She used to work in Tokyo as a fashion intern, and decided to offer something only an artist could give: comfort in the form of creativity and imagination.
Although the world has been generous with funds and other material support, '[giving] money is quite impersonal,' Klauss says. 'It's nice [when] people can really hold something in their hands that someone else made while thinking about them.'
The German-born artist started contacting the art professionals she knew from different stages of her life, from her time as an art student in Berlin to the semester she spent in Japan, as well as friends and colleagues she got to know in Hong Kong as an illustrator.
The response was heartwarming: 24 graphic designers, illustrators and artists from around the world came together to create I Love Japan, a book she hopes will provide a fun and creative outlet for the country's traumatised youngsters.
Each artist contributed two pages of original work, resulting in 48 pages of unique interactive content. For example, children can colour and cut out a paper mask, or paste in cutouts of koi fish for a pop-up book effect. Contributors include German street artist Jim Avignon, award-winning London illustrator Marion Deuchars and South China Morning Post cartoonist Harry Harrison.