Children’s Nissan Figaro Book “So Many Vehicles! Where are they going?” by Naokata Mase

Author (Written and Illustrated) by: Naokata Mase

Published: 2020 in Japan by Chold Honsha Co. Ltd, Tokyo

This Version: Translated by Peng Yi and Zhou Longmei

Published: first print 2023, reprinted June 2024 by 21st Century Publishing Group

This 24 page children’s story is by the same author and illustrator as “Let’s Go for a Drive” (find out more about that lovely book), and takes us on a journey asking where are all the vehicles going… and inevitably why!

As lovers of all things Figaro, alongside the starring red Figaro, we would delighted to see a green Figaro follows along on the journey too in their own mini Figaro convoy!

One of the joys of this book, like with the previous one, is how interactive it is, with some pages cut to the shape of the mountains, to help the reader feel like they are heading towards the ultimate destination, or with a cut outs like when the Figaros go through a tunnel in the mountains.

There are also other recognisable Japanese cars illustrated with at least a couple of Nissan Cubes amongst the pages as the family head towards the event that is bringing so many people together.

While the joyous faces may well be excitement for the event, we are absolutely sure that some of the joy for our Figaro owners, and onlookers must also be the sight of not one, but two Figaros, on what would be a momentous day!

The attention to detail on the Figaros throughout the book are just wonderful – there’s some artistic licence, but the writer and illustrator is clearly a big fan of these wonderful cars!!

We loved how you can see bits of the dashboard, polos, and illustrations of both the front and back of the car.

And what is the momentous event, we hear you ask?

Well, as we have all just witnessed the safe return of the Artemis crew following their historic journey around the moon in the last week, that gives you a pretty good idea…

… although the back illustration points to a future adventure for our Figaro family and first contact with aliens!

We used Google Translate to translate some of the information, with the story continuing to build up to where they are all going… but what was also nice to read was to do a translation of the author’s words at the back of the book:

When I drive long distances, I often encounter the same car multiple times. If we’re heading to the same destination, I feel a connection between us, rather than seeing them as “complete strangers”. I have a dream: a spaceship called “Earth”. If you imagine Earth as a spaceship travelling through space, then people from other countries, strangers to each other, are all passengers on the same spaceship heading to the same destination; no one is a “complete outsider”. But what kind of future world will “Earth” travel to?”

You can leaf through the pages of the book in the gallery below.

We have only been able to find a Chinese translation of the book, which may still be available on Amazon UK or Amazon.com. You may also find it elsewhere by looking on Good Reads.

If you manage to find a Japanese version or others in the series with illustrations of a Figaro, or other books with Figaro content, please get in touch and let us know!

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