I'd like to purchase several books by Japanese graphic designer
Katsumi Komagata. I'm having trouble finding any place on the web
where I can purchase these books (either online or through
mail/fax/phone) that isn't written in Japanese. Is there any
english-speaking distributor from whom I can purchase these works?

The details...

I'd like to buy 3 copies each of these titles:
Pacu Pacu
Blue to Blue
Green to Green
Yellow to Red
Mini Book Series 　Shape／Motion／Scene
Nora
Hana

I would also be interested in different titles by the same author.

The best source I found so far is in Japanese. I believe it is
Kamagata's own site, one-stroke.co.jp. The book shop shows all the
books I mentioned above.

http://www.one-stroke.co.jp/bookshop.html#Anchor-47857

Thank you!

---

Request for Question Clarification by leli-ga on 28 May 2003 10:22 PDT

Hello Meggie - thanks for your question.

I've sent inquiries to three possible sources for Komagata's books. 

While we wait for replies, I should check with you where you are
located. In my emails, I was inquiring about delivery to the US. If
that was wrong, I apologize - and could you tell me where you would
want the books shipped?

I hope to have news for you before too long.

Regards - Leli

---

Clarification of Question by meggie-ga on 28 May 2003 11:59 PDT

Yes, I would like to ship them to the US. Palo Alto, CA 94306 to be exact!

Thanks

---

Request for Question Clarification by leli-ga on 03 Jun 2003 10:56 PDT

Hi Meggie

We're getting nearer to an answer. 

I've heard from One Stroke with details of prices, shipping charges
and delivery time. However, they don't take credit cards and would ask
you to wire money to their bank account. Although they emailed me
their account number, the editors would prefer me not to post this
information without asking One Stroke for their explicit permission to
do so.

I'm wondering if you'd like an answer now, without their banking
details but with everything else, so you can get on with contacting
them direct - or would you rather wait until I've had another email
exchange with them?

The European distributors have replied positively too, but without
much detail and in French.

Let me know if you'd like everything I can offer so far.
Or should I try to get One Stroke's permission to post their bank
account number?

Thanks - Leli


PS  You probably know it's against Google Answers policy for you to
post your email address, so we can't go down that route.

---

Clarification of Question by meggie-ga on 05 Jun 2003 16:49 PDT

I see the conundrum... hmmm... 
 
Well, if you are able to post all the information I need and all I
would have to do is email one-stroke with my order (in English?), they
send me back the account number, I wire the money over and they send
me the books, then that seems great. I obviously am going to have to
contact them at some point, so this seems appropriate enough.
 
So, yes. Please post all the information you have and I will email
one-stroke and get the account # from them.
 
: )

Meggie, thanks for your message.

Although it's frustrating to have a slight extra delay before you can
finalize the order, I think you'll be pleased to see that the email I
received was clear and written in good English.

The email is from Takahashi at:123@one-stroke.co.jp

"We estimated shipping cost for the books.
The total weights of books are 4kg
and the Price of books are as following:

PACU PACU        1400 X 3 =4200
BLUE TO BLUE     1600 X 3 =4800
GREEN TO GREEN   1600 X 3 =4800
YELLOW TO RED    1600 X 3 =4800
SHAPE             680 X 3 =2040
MOTION            680 X 3 =2040
SCENE             680 X 3 =2040
NORA             1250 X 3 =3750
HANA             1250 X 3 =3750
___________________________________
SUB TOTAL                 33220 yen

EMS  (5 days for delivery) 6800 yen
___________________________________
NET TOTAL                 40020 yen

We are sorry that we don't take any credit cards.
If you agree, please wire the money through our account.
We will send them as soon as we receive the payments.

ACCOUNT NAME    ONE STROKE CO.,LTD.
ACCOUNT NUMBER  [ . . ]
BANK NAME       [ . . ]
BANK ADDRESS    [ . . ] TOKYO 

Please let us have your name and the address.
Thank you.
TAKAHASHI, ONE STROKE"

Their phone number is 03-5727-3531. 03 is the dialing code for Tokyo.
Dialing code for Japan is +81

Here's an online currency convertor:
http://www.aquariussoft.com/currency-converter/

I do hope you receive the books soon. 

After working on this question, I can understand why you'd be
interested in Komagata's art. I'd like to see some in the offline
world one day.


* * * *


Now for details of the other leads I followed up:


The French distributors, Les Trois Ourses, answered my message asking
if they would ship to customers in the US. I said that you would want
to correspond in English. My email was in French and they replied:

"Bonjour,
il est possible de commander nos livres (les frais de port sont à la
charge du demandeur). Les titres demandés sont disponibles.
J'attends votre confirmation,
Cordialement,
Sara Paubel / les trois ourses"  (email:troisourses@online.fr)

The message says that you can order, the titles you want are available
and you would be responsible for shipping costs.
They're at:

2, passage Rauch 75011 
PARIS - FRANCE
Tel: (33) 01.43.79.07.35
Fax: (33) 01.43.79.07.42

The "Trois Ourses" home page:
http://troisourses.online.fr/

The catalogue is here:
http://troisourses.online.fr/catalogue.htm

"Trois Ourses" was founded by librarians who want to support artists
whose work for children they like, organize exhibitions of their work
and distribute hard-to-find books:
http://troisourses.online.fr/presentation.htm


* * * *


I also contacted the company who were Komagata's publishers before he
set up One Stroke, the Kaisei-Sha Publishing Company. Even though they
don't handle the books you want, I'll pass on their reply, just in
case you have any use for it:

"There are 13 titles written by Katsumi Komagata but regarding the
spiral book series, we are running out of stock at the moment. We do
have Little Eye series 10 volumes, each title of which is as follows:

Little Eye series 10 title

‡@ FIRST LOOK
‡A MEET COLORS
‡B PLAY WITH COLORS
‡C ONE FOR MANY
‡D 1 TO 10
‡E WHAT COLOR ?
‡F THE ANIMALS
‡G FRIENDS IN NATURE
‡H WALK & LOOK
‡I GO AROUND


(A)Credit Card (airmail only)

Books will be delivered directly from "Book Service" Company upon
receipt of
your order.

Customs Duty : 0%--40% Differs according to country and recipient may
have to
pay upon receipt of books.

(B)International Postal Money Order
Books will be sent from Kaisei-sha upon receipt of your remittance.
Send remittance to:
Kaisei-sha Publishing Company
3-5 Ichigaya Sadohara-cho
Shinjyuku-ku,Tokyo 162-8450
Tel:03-3260-3221 Fax:03-3260-3222

(C)Bank Check
Books will be sent from Kaisei-sha upon receipt of your remittance.
Send remittance to:
[ Bank details ]

..

Invoiced amount will be as follows.
(A) airmail
Bookcost yen+Customs Duty yen+Shipping yen+Handling 210yen=total yen

..

(B) airmail
Bookcost yen+Shipping yen=total yen

(B) SAL
Bookcost yen+Shipping yen=total yen

(B) sea mail
Bookcost yen+Shipping yen=total yen

..

(C) airmail
Bookcost yen+Shipping yen+Bank Charge 2500yen=total yen

(C) SAL
Bookcost yen+Shipping yen+Bank Charge 2500yen=total yen

(C) sea mail
Bookcost yen+Shipping yen+Bank Charge 2500yen=total yen"



The Japan Book Publishers Association has this entry for them:


Kaisei-Sha Publishing Co., Ltd.
3-5, Ichigaya-Sadoharacho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8450
Tel: 03-3260-3229 
Fax: 03-3260-3540
URL: http://www.kaiseisha.co.jp
E-mail: foreign@kaiseisha.co.jp
President: Masaki Imamura
Foreign rights/trade: Hiroshi Konno
2000: 150 titles Founded: 1936
Subject: Juvenile
http://www.jbpa.or.jp/e-member/members%20list(k).html

Please note they are not the same people as Kaisei-Sha Press, who
publish scientific books.

The email I received came not from the address above, but from
<sales@kaiseisha.co.jp> in response to my initial inquiry which I sent
to the "info" address on their home page:
http://www.kaiseisha.co.jp

The email was signed:
Kaisei-sha
Manaka
Mail order Department


* * * *


Once again, I hope you get the books soon! And a real thank-you for
introducing me to Komagata's work.

Please don't hesitate to request clarification if I can offer any
further help with this question.

Regards - Leli



Search strategy:

komagata pacu
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=komagata+pacu&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

komagata livres
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=komagata+livres&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Kaisei-sha komagata
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Kaisei-sha+komagata&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

And 'view > source' to find One Stroke's email address.

Thank you so much for all your work. I was really stuck with this one,
and you came through wonderfully! I am so pleased and thankful for all
your hard work.

I have received a reply to an e-mail I sent to One Stroke, so at least
I have the correct e-mail address.  The reply was in English, but did
not have details on how to order the books.  I have written for these
details.  In the meantime, perhaps Leli will find another solution.

Meggie - 

No luck yet, I'm afraid.

The only news I have is about an older series of Komagata's books,
"Little Eye":

FIRST LOOK
MEET COLORS
PLAY WITH COLORS
ONE FOR MANY
1 TO 10
WHAT COLOR ?
THE ANIMALS
FRIENDS IN NATURE
WALK & LOOK
GO AROUND 

(These are illustrated in the second and third rows on the One-Stroke
webpage you linked to.)

They are available from a company with arrangements for
English-speaking customers, international payments and delivery. The
company can usually supply  Komagata's "spiral book series" too, but
this is temporarily out of stock. I'm afraid I haven't figured out
what they mean by his "spiral book series" but suspect they are books
from more than ten years ago.

Hoping One-Stroke will respond soon, and that either justaskscott-ga
or I will have some good news -

Leli

PS The European distributor I contacted hasn't replied either. Very
frustrating.

I see the conundrum... hmmm...

Well, if you are able to post all the information I need and all I
would have to do is email one-stroke with my order (in English?), they
send me back the account number, I wire the money over and they send
me the books, then that seems great. I obviously am going to have to
contact them at some point, so this seems appropriate enough.

So, yes. Please post all the information you have and I will email
one-stroke and get the account # from them.

: )

Thank-you Meggie - I'm glad to have helped and appreciate your kind
words as well as the tip and stars.

Leli