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Associated Press

Eiko Kadono, the author behind Japan’s most famous – and almost certainly most beloved – literary witch, has a little trouble going up the stairs these days.
At 91, she is still writing every day and has not stopped loving the colour pink, dressing up or believing in the magic of books.
Kiki’s Delivery Service, which was published in 1985 and turned into a 1989 animation by Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli, is among more than 200 books she has written.
“I never tire of writing,” she says at her home in the picturesque seaside town of Kamakura, south of Tokyo.
With a little pink gate, the house is filled with books, pink chairs and her collection of animal figures.
“I’m probably a child at heart,” Kadono says with a small laugh.


Wearing her signature glasses, Kadono is dressed in a colourful smock that her daughter designs especially for her.
She explains proudly that the sleeves are elastic at the wrists so they can be pulled up easily when she writes.
Kiki’s Delivery Service remains one of Studio Ghibli’s most popular screen classics. The award-winning animated feature – which is available on Netflix, Apple TV and Prime Video – has a 98 per cent score on aggregate review site Rotten Tomatoes.
It is the fifth animated fantasy film written, directed and produced by Miyazaki and tells the story of 13-year-old novice witch Kiki who, according to tradition, has to leave home for a year to learn to become self-sufficient. With her black cat Jiji in tow, she sets up a delivery service in a seaside town and soon discovers the joy and burden of being independent.
A wig, red lipstick and wrinkles – what’s to hide
According to online entertainment website Fandom, the film plot deviated from the original novel’s story and themes, which upset Kadono during its production. She has since reconciled with Miyazaki. A more faithful live-action film adaptation was released in 2014, featuring Kadono as the narrator.
These days, Kadono uses a keyboard, punching the keys slowly, one at a time. But when she is creating a story, it still all starts with writing by hand. She also draws pictures.
“I want to write so that the reader can visualise what I am writing,” she says. “I love to write.”
Still quick with her retorts, laughs and thoughts, Kadono shrugs off how she is wearing a wig. She does not understand why people might want to hide that. She wears red lipstick and acts a bit shy about her wrinkles.

Her writing basically has not changed over the years, although when she looks back on her past writing, she feels it is wordier than her current crisp style.
The Kiki series in the original Japanese spans six books and three spin-offs. The first instalment was translated into English in 2020 by Delacorte Press. It is now in 25 foreign languages.
Now, the second in the series, Kiki and the New Magic, is set for release in August in English, translated by Emily Balistrieri and illustrated by Yuta Onoda.
Kadano’s journey from homemaker to celebrated author
Kadono, who won the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2018, never set out to become a writer. She was basically a housewife, married to a designer and raising a daughter.
She lived in Brazil for two years in her thirties and was asked to write about that experience. That is when she discovered she liked writing as a fun thing to do, not as a job. It was certainly not something she was ordered or pushed to do.
The character of the sprightly, no-nonsense Kiki was inspired by a drawing her daughter did when she was 12: a cute witch was flying on a broomstick towards the moon.
Kadono decided to create a coming-of-age story about a little witch who goes on an adventure, travelling with her black cat Jiji.
The rest is history.
Kiki’s Museum of Literature, which opened in Tokyo in 2023, now sells Kadono’s smocks, as well as pink mugs and T-shirts decorated with the characters she has created, and rows upon rows of books from a number of authors.
“The otherworldly fantasy that Kadono creates has overcome the boundaries of language, to become appreciated by a wide global audience, including children and adults, and won international accolades,” reads a statement in pink lettering on the museum wall.

Five-year-old Tsukiko Fukuda, who is visiting the museum with her family, has a more to-the-point reaction: the books are fun, and pink is her favourite colour, too.
Kadono hopes there will be a continuous flux of talented writers of children’s books so the future generation can grow up to love books.
Now is a crucial period, she believes, that may decide whether that can really happen.
The walks in the woods and other activities that captured the imagination of children of the past no longer exist, Kadono says. There are other digital and modern diversions.
And so they must read.
“People must think on their own to be able to create. That’s what being human means,” Kadono says with passion in her voice.
“Books are the only thing now that can bring about creation and imagination.”
Additional reporting by SCMP reporter.


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Eiko Kadono has written 200 books and does not intend to stop. One of her stories, Kiki’s Delivery Service, became a Studio Ghibli anime hit


Eiko Kadono has written 200 books and does not intend to stop. One of her stories, Kiki’s Delivery Service, became a Studio Ghibli anime hit.


Asian cinema: Japanese films

Hayao Miyazaki

Studio Ghibli

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Kiki’s Delivery Service author Eiko Kadono is 91, loves pink and never tires of writing

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Eiko Kadono has written 200 books and does not intend to stop. One of her stories, Kiki’s Delivery Service, became a Studio Ghibli anime hit

Eiko Kadono has written 200 books and does not intend to stop. One of her stories, Kiki’s Delivery Service, became a Studio Ghibli anime hit