Poupelle Of Chimney Town – Akihiro Nishino

Poupelle of Chimney Town is a children's picture book - for now - created by a Japanese artist, comedian, author and multi-entrepreneur Akihiro Nishino. The story is metaphorical and the paintings are absolutely amazing. But that's not all. I just said "for now"... The story from this picture book is only the middle part of the whole tale of the Chimney Town, that's 5 times longer. The whole story is due to be released as an animated blockbuster film in December 2020. Despite of the eponymous title, "Poupelle" is not even going to be the main character.

The Poupelle book is scripted and directed by Nishino - he's a talented drawing artist himself, but said to have involved a team of 35 illustrators in order to create the 'best children's book ever'. 

He would draw rough sketches using just a ballpoint pen, and the illustrators would help him refine the work to create each painting. His original sketches are something like this;

Poupelle of Chimney Town - View Online

The entire book is accessible online for free - read the story and view the 41 beautiful works of art from here. 

This is one of Nishino's marketing strategies, and it was seen as pretty controversial when released. He decided to make it 100% free because he'd rather want it "known by 1 billion people than bought by 100,000 people". 

In this day and age, a printed book is still a preferred format by parents - to tell their children bedtime story, for example. And yet, few people would go adventurous in purchasing children's books. Would you rather spend money on a Harry Potter book, or risk wasting on some unknown book written by an unknown author? (Although Nishino is a very famous entertainer in Japan.) For that reason, he wanted every busy parent to go online and make sure the hardcopy version is worth paying money for. If they like it, they'll buy it. If they don't, then be it.

His strategy proved to be a success - after the free release online, the hardcopy sales skyrocketed once again in Japan earlier this year.

The Metaphor

I actually didn't get it when I first read it. I think you need to understand a little what it's like to grow up in Japan where 'harmony' is valued more than everything else in almost every community. Children are taught to blend in at school, people are expected to use common sense, blend in at workplaces or with any kind of crowd. The people are expected to be polite - the other side of the coin is, they often sacrifice everything else just to get on with others - you say one word wrong and you may be seen as being disrespectful to so-and-so.

It could happen anywhere. Be opinionated and others will ignore you. If you don't do what others do, you'll be bullied. But this is not a small-minded, small-town we're talking about. Small town boys and girls are happy to be ordinary and they happily follow what others do. Those who don't feel they fit in can move out to a big city to fulfill their ambitions.

Whereas in Japan - in this big, monolingual country with full of information and full of possibilities - many feel that they don't want to be ordinary, they want to pursue their dreams. Unfortunately they are too scared to come out of the shell because if they do, they'll be ignored, bullied and laughed at. They think they're restrained by the society, and they think there's no option but to stay restrained because they know others are restrained too. They grow up not knowing how to take the first step out of the 'chimney town' and say 'this is me and this is what I want to do!'

Where are all young Japanese postgraduates going? What should they really do? 

Akihiro Nishino explains that the story is a social satire, and Poupelle the 'Trash Man" refers to hopes & dreams everyone once had as a child but has had to give up (trashed) somewhere along the way to the adulthood.

Nishino explains that the key phrases of the story “Believe. Even if you’re the only one.” are the words that Lubicci's father told his son, a hidden epilogue but he decided not to add. I guess because this is not the epilogue - the book is only a part of a longer tale, and the complete version will only be released as a movie in 2 years time from now on. Lubicci's father's words are;

"It doesn't matter nobody else has seen it. What you see with your own eyes is real. If you saw the light beyond the black smoke, go and get it. Follow your heart. Don't let the damn society crush your dreams. Never stop believing in yourself. Even nobody is on your side."

（他の誰も見ていなくてもいい。黒い煙のその先に、お前が光を見たのなら、行動しろ。思いしれ。そして、常識に屈するな。お前がその目で見たものが真実だ。あの日、あの時、あの光を見た自分を信じろ。信じぬくんだ。たとえ一人になっても。）

Crowdfunded Work

It took Nishino 4.5 years to create this book, and the whole production costs were raised by crowdfunding. The sponsors received a signed copy of the book primarily, so in fact it was just an advance purchase booking in the name of 'crowdfunding'. Another one of Nishino's strategies worked - he couldn't have employed the production staff otherwise. As a result the book turned out to be the fastest-selling children's book in Japan, and since it was released in 2016, it's been sold something like 360,000 copies to date.

By the way the sponsors who were business owners also had the right to have their name appeared in the picture. You'll see a lot of shop fascia signs and names on banners and lanterns in Japanese - they're the actual business ads by the sponsors.

Akihiro Nishino

I actually didn't know about Mr. Nishino until last year. I read his best-selling business book (in Japan) which I loved, and learned that the man I'd thought was a talented young entrepreneur was not exactly young (born in 1980), and had been a famous comedian in Japan for the past 18 years.

The Poupelle story is a reflection of his career experience. The public criticised him for launching other businesses, they didn't like his straight-to-the-point approach, a comedian would not be supposed to publish children's books... Every plan that he talked about was picked on, laughed at, and denied. Nishino was once branded as the most annoying celebrity in Japan... None of which I don't actually get.

Anyway all he wants is one thing; be successful like no one else and prove them wrong. Nishino is determined to become one of the most successful entertainers in the world at large. "Poupelle of Chimney Town Museum and Theme Park" is undertaken in Kawanishi, where he's originally from, that's a pretty huge project. Another children's book is being released in the next couple of months. And his team is producing another one right now, due to be published in 2020.

But most of all, it's the movie production of "Poupelle of Chimney Town". He's proposing to beat Disney with this. He's said it, so he will. Just wait and see.