signal and signalless

"You're definitely my future wife."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll never change."
``I'll give you an engagement ring, see tomorrow, it's a blue star with four lines in a row.''
Signal looked up at the starry sky and said to Signalless.
"You'll see a small ring at the foot of that bottom leg, the Ring Nebula (Fishmouth Nebula). That ring of light, please accept it, it's my heart."

Signal, a railway signal, confesses his love for Signalless...

Kenji's love story is depicted using personified and friendly pictures.

[Profile]
Illustration: Mao Yamaguchi
Born in 1958 in Chikura-cho, Chiba Prefecture (currently Minamiboso City). Graduated from Tokyo Zokei University, Department of Painting.
He won the Choice Annual Award in 1987, the Japanese Illustration Newcomer Award in 1991, the New York ADC Award and the London International Advertising Award in 1993, and the Asian Picture Book Original Illustration Biennale Honorable Mention Award in 2002.
Picture books for which he has illustrated include ``Wani Wani's Bath'' and other ``Wani Wani'' series, ``Amu'', ``Amu and Aoi Reed'', and ``Tono no Sagaeru ni Harugakita'' (I ``The beginning of the zodiac'' (written by Setsuko Hasegawa, published by Iwanami Shoten), ``Narimashita'' (written by Rintaro Uchida, published by Suzuki Publishing) , "Crab's Shobai" (written by Nankichi Niimi, Suzuki Publishing), "Yoru no Fish Kanaya-san" (written by Junya Hotaka, Bunkeido), "Ore, Kyoryu Shinkanse" ' (written by Naoki Katahira, Kotsu Shimbunsha), 'Daichi' (written by Shuntaro Tanikawa, published by Iwasaki Shoten), and 'I'm a Shark' (written by Naoki Katahira, published by Froebel-kan), among many others.
His picture books include ``Densha Gokko,'' ``Little Boy'' (Fukuinkan Shoten), and ``Nekodensha'' (Kotsu Shinbunsha).

●Art materials used: Gouache (opaque watercolor) / Paper: Echizen washi paper

[Publication date] October 14, 2021