Japan Eyes Strengthening Support for Using Specialists Who Are Knowledgeable about Picture Books to Promote Reading

The Yomiuri Shimbun

1:00 JST, August 27, 2025

The education ministry is considering strengthening its support for using such people as specialists who are knowledgeable about picture books to promote reading.

The ministry aims to address such issues as regional disparities in the availability of specialists and a lack of reading activities, thereby working to improve reading environments.

For this purpose, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry will include ¥30 million in related expenses in the appropriations requests submitted for the fiscal 2026 budget.

The ministry will have picture book specialists – people who received a private qualification established in 2014 by the National Institute For Youth Education – play a central role to promote reading.

Through such activities as reading picture books to children, the specialists will help foster children’s language skills, sensitivity and understanding from an early age. There are currently 717 such specialists nationwide, but many of them are located in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Tokyo has 148 such specialists and Kanagawa Prefecture has 64.

There have been criticisms that there are few opportunities for them to take part in activities and that they are not being fully utilized.

In response, organizations selected through a public recruitment process by the ministry will conduct research next fiscal year to increase the opportunities and provide more training for those working to promote reading.

The possibility of matching these people with venues where reading events and other activities will take place will also be explored.

The ministry is trying to reverse the trend of fewer people reading.

The ministry envisions the people who will work to promote reading will not only include picture book specialists but also recitation instructors and reading advisors.