Old and new books that protect the bookbinder's back
Opening the door to Kawana Jun Book Design Office, you'll find a space of about 2 tatami mats (approximately 2 tatami mats) surrounded on all four sides by bookshelves. Proceeding through an entrance that appears to have been carved out of the shelves, you'll find bookshelves on three sides (excluding the window). There's also a waist-high bookshelf that divides the work space in half, with a desk at the back.
"On the shelves at the entrance, I have design materials, books I've collected as a hobby, and books I've received from authors and publishers."
Indeed, there is an old brown area, but there are also design books and picture books, and the genres and formats are all different.
"When it comes to typesetting, we sometimes use old books as resources. We not only refer to the size of the letters, the spacing between characters, and the spacing between lines, but also make use of fonts. For example, for "COCOON" by Machiko Kyo, we obtained children's books and textbooks published during the war, scanned the characters, and used software to create a font."
The bookshelf behind the side door is a stark contrast to the colorful one. It is filled with neatly aligned, boxed volumes of 46-size paperbacks, manga, paperbacks, and magazines.
"On this side are the books I designed for binding. I receive multiple copies, so I put two or three of them on each shelf. I limit the types of paper I use, so I often open the books I've bound to check that it's the same paper, so it's very practical."
From foreign books to children's books and complete collections of classic literature, these books are the seeds of design, spanning a wide range of genres. 
There are specialist books on binding and design, as well as various dictionaries. It's a particularly brown corner of the bookshelf.
Jun Kawana is a designer whose name always appears among the winners and nominees of literary awards announced several times a year.
"There have been a few times when I've been doing more book design for novels, but the biggest one recently was probably Sato Kiwami's "Tezcatlipoca." When a book you design becomes a hit, it leads to new work."
The hit novel, which won the Naoki Prize and the Yamamoto Shugoro Prize in 2021, was recently released in paperback, also with a cover designed by Kawana. Kawana's design work began as a magazine editorial. From there, he began working on books and manga, and went independent in 2017. Since 2020, he has also served as art director for the literary magazine Gunzo.
"Since I started designing for Gunzo, I've been able to read all of the original manuscripts before they're published in the magazine, and I've increasingly been in charge of the book design for the published works. In the pure literature vein, I also sometimes design novels for Bungei and Subaru."
At Gunzo, where he works as an AD, he not only designs the cover but also the text. He and a designer friend are in charge of the monthly magazine, which is around 500 pages long. 
The walls are decorated with prints, watercolors, sculptures, and other artworks by artists who sometimes appear as book covers.
The number of books and magazines he designs each year is in the triple digits, and the extremely busy Kawana says there are three books that "have my back as a book designer."
"Ezoushi Urotsuki Yata is a novel that was serialized in Weekly Playboy, but in order to get Shibata Renzaburo, who was reluctant to write, to take up his pen, Yokoo Tadanori was called in to collaborate on the project. Even so, the urgency was there, and he combined it with gravure photos of actors, enlarged the text to fill the pages, and the live feel is amazing! It gives you courage, making you think it's okay to publish this, and there's a great sense of security in knowing there's a precedent."
The golden-shining "Sakura Gaho Complete Collection" is also a book that was born from a magazine serialization.
"It was originally a series of illustrations for the Asahi Journal, but Genpei Akasegawa started to stir up trouble, saying, 'This is my book!' The other articles are just wrapping paper!' This led to a recall and cancellation. This book captures the speed and even a certain carelessness of magazine production. This level of selfishness was allowed, and it's fascinating because of that."
It's hard to convey the scale of "FRONT" in a photograph, but it's the same extra-large A3 size as the original. It comes in a boxed set of three volumes.
"It was a visual magazine produced by the Japanese military during World War II for public relations purposes abroad. They gathered together some of the best graphic designers, photographers, and editors who had been unable to produce satisfactory books due to the war, and allowed them to work freely in an environment where they could use expensive cameras and printing machines as they pleased.
However, the contents are military propaganda. The ambivalence between the incredible quality and the glorification of militarism also serves as a cautionary tale for me. I only make books that I honestly want to read myself and that I would like others to read. They are like a cautionary tale that makes me realize that I need to stick to my principles even if they call it extravagant."
"Illustrated Book Urotsuki Yata" by Renzaburo Shibata and Tadanori Yokoo
This historical novel was serialized in Weekly Playboy from 1973 to 1974. The words of Shibata Renzaburo are presented in full color by Yokoo Tadanori, a cutting-edge illustrator and designer. This rare "modern picture scroll" was difficult to obtain for a long time, but was republished in limited quantities by Kokusho Kankokai in 2013. Kawana's personal copy is the original version published in 1975. Shueisha / Out of stock.
"Sakura Pictorial Encyclopedia" by Akasegawa Genpei
Sakuragaho began as a serial in Asahi Journal in 1970 and was later contributed to magazines such as Monthly Manga Garo, Nihon Dokusho Shimbun, Shincho Novels, and Gendai Shi Techo, as well as university newspapers. This special edition, presented in a box with a golden cover, archives the words and drawings of avant-garde artists. It was later included in the Shincho Bunko series. Seirindō / Out of stock.!["FRONT" (I Navy, Manchukuo Construction, Air Force [Air Power]) Supervised by Seiichi Tagawa](https://media.brutus.jp/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/bec3d3203af4fc611e2afcaa916f0017.jpg)
"FRONT" (I Navy, Manchukuo Construction, Air Force [Air Power]) Supervised by Seiichi Tagawa
With the full cooperation of the Japanese government and the Army, Navy, and Air Force! All 10 issues, including the Army and Iron (Productivity) issues, have been translated into up to 15 languages. The manpower and funds were poured into design, photography, and printing, promoting military power and ideology overseas. The original was published by Tohosha. A photo reprint and a collector's edition have also been published. Heibonsha / Out of stock.
