Yagyu, Genichiro
Genichiro Yagyu, the author of the six books included in ‘The Map of My Body’ series, was born in November 1943 in Japan, in a village in Mie’s prefecture near the sea. As a child he had poor eyesight and wore round glasses with a white frame that looked like turnip slices, so at school they used to call him ‘turnip glasses’. This gave him plenty to think about for a while. When he got over it, he began to worry about his plump buttocks, and later on, about the holes of his nose (which, even now, are big and round). After looking at himself and at others so much, it was no surprise he would end up making these books to get to know our body a little better and understand how it functions.
In addition to the six titles that comprise our collection, Yaygu has published other books in Japan, as the only author or with the collaboration of Dr. Makoto Yamada: First Aid for Children (1987), What is the Heart? (1987), What is Urine? (1989), Book of Diseases 1, 2, and 3 (1989), Let’s Observe Our Nude Bodies (1993), Thank You for Everything (2002). Many of his works have been translated to different languages.
Today, Genichiro Yagyu lives in Nagano’s prefecture and, due to his poor eyesight and bad hearing, he spends a lot of time laying down in front of the television screen watching the same videos over and over. He is not a good example for his readers to follow, but, as he himself admits, he is a lost cause.