Mitsubishi Asian Children’s Enikki Festa
Change in Present Day Asia, as seen through Enikki Illustrated Diaries

The colourful, vivid drawings show the culture and customs in their countries, and some of the drawings reflect ever changing environmental and social issues. This is our children’s vision of the current status of the world.
The art shown here spans 8 festivals, tracing a period of 18 years.

Two of the selection Jury members look back over the last 18 years, at the work they have seen firsthand produced by the children since the very first Festival.
C.W. Nicol
Juror (Author)
Over the past 18 years, the children have presented a world and a vision that provides a straightforward reflection of adult society. The works come from rich natural environments that people share with many creatures, and the drawings and their coloration are vividly alive, vibrant with motion, and richly imbued with family activity. I have doubts about whether our children are happy in our ever-more materialistic societies cluttered with computers, toys, and electrical appliances. I have been deeply moved by the children’s drawings.
Teruo Ohnuma
Assistant Head of the Jury
(Oil Painter, Professor Emeritus of Tokyo
University of the Arts, Vice President of of Bunsei University of Art)
I have been involved in the selection process for this project since the very start. We are now in the 8th Festival, and my overall impression is that the level of artwork has risen in every single country. The event seems to have filtered through to Japan, and I have seen many highly accomplished works from Japan too. Many of the works capture the qualities of childhood perfectly, and everyone who sees them exclaims at how wonderful and impressive they are.
Many of the children drew their ‘proud mountains’, but even then some of them were already worrying about the environment change in the Himalayas.
1st GRAND PRIX
Deepak Shrestha
(Age:12 boy) Nepal
<Mountain Trekking>
Collection of pollutant in the Himalayas made me worried.
This shows simply how religion blends naturally into everyday life.
1st GRAND PRIX
Ela Singh (Age:7 girl) India
Whenever a cow comes near our house, we feed it the left over bread. The cow very lovingly eats from our hands. We worship cow.
     
Modern games and interior design are popular in Brunei. The illustrated diaries of Bhutan show that people pray all over the place in everyday.
2nd GRAND PRIX
Tasha Ong Hui Boon (Age:7 girl)
Brunei Darussalam
There’s no school and my brother Julian likes playing pirates, but I like playing with our dog.
3rd Special Award
Kezang Jamtsho
(Age:11 boy)
Kingdom of Bhutan
My sister was sick, I called lama (monk). Lama came and he did pooja (devotions) in our house to get my sister well. Lama gave blessings to all of us.
2nd Special Award
Lai Ngoc Hai (Age:7 boy)
Socialist Republic of Viet Nam
Nov. 13, 1991
Today I feel like drawing. I asked my father to buy me felt pens and paper. I hope the picture I drew will win a prize. The title of the picture is “My Home Town” in Thai Binh province.
Watercolors, crayon, colored pencil, patch of paper, etc. The drawing materials differed depending on the country and the region.
3rd Excellence Award
Thongsamay Phouthakhanty
(Age:12 boy)
Lao People’s Democratic Republic
The picture shows the livelihood of the Lao people: the rice cultivation.
Asia’s colourful traditional events and folk costumes give children a rich sense of colour.
4rd GRAND PRIX
Tzeng Ying-tse (Age:11 girl)
Chinese Taipei
Messengers of the gods
Bong-bong! Clang-clang! Chug! Pop-pop!
Drums crash and firecrackers light up the sky. Gi ye, Ba ye, and Hi bai wu chang (the names of the messengers of the gods) make the festival very busy and they pray for peace and the people.
The children drew dispassionately of war, bombing and land mines. The drawings shout out that this is a real fact of life.
4th GRAND PRIX
Sem Sokmeta (Age:12 girl)
Kingdom of Cambodia
We ran away from the war, because planes bombed our village. We are going to a safer place. The war made us homeless and the children had no chance to go to school.
These children must work in the fields and care for the animals as well as studying for school. Their drawings tell of their naturalness and resilience.
5th GRAND PRIX
Erdenebaatar Tuvshinjargal (Age:11 girl)
Mongolia
I spent my summer vacation in my father’s native Arkhangai aimag (a province in central Mongolia) with my parents. We helped my grandparents to make hay and milk the cows. We made many kinds of milk products and sold them.
6th GRAND PRIX
Vilaphong Souksavady
(Age:12 boy)
Lao People’s Democratic Republic
After I wash up in the morning, I take a bowl of cracked rice and a basket of bran out to the chicken house. The chickens come out to greet me when I open the door. They flap their wings and talk to me. The hens cluck and the ducks quack.
5th GRAND PRIX
Toha Islam
(Age:11 boy)
People’s Republic of Bangladesh
The poor children of Bangladesh are given no rights. They are neglected or disgraced. Just like adults, they have to live by hard labour.
Serious floods hit Bangladesh almost every year. These produce vicious cycle of poverty, and threat children’s lives at risk.
5th Organizers’Awards
(Mitsubishi Public Affairs Committee Award)
Natasha Tabassum Arpy
(Age:11 girl)
People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Houses and roads were carried away by the long flood. People suffer from a shortage of drinking water and food. Many people are living on boats. I, together with my father and his friends, took some food and drinking water to people who were in need.
The Indonesian children’s drawings were dazzlingly colourful and the composition was so dynamic.
7th Organizers’Awards
(National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan Award)
Mohammad Rashad (Age:8 boy)
Republic of Indonesia
We went to Bali on a holiday and watched the Barong dance. The Barong dance is funny. I could see the legs of the people inside.
As we enter the 21st Century, these illustrated diaries reveal the harsh realities that exist in Asian.
7th GRAND PRIX
Almeida Gusmao (Age:10 boy)
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
The massacre
This picture is my memory of the massacre at Suai Church on September 6. A lot of people got killed.
In their messages, more and more children think about plants and animals and watch seriously about the global environment.
8th GRAND PRIX
Zhang Yichi (Age:8 girl)
People’s Republic of China
Sunday, September 3, 2006
I feel sad to see the colorful world and all the skyscrapers. We miss the birds’singing and the big trees. The world has become dark.
Computers and video games have spread throughout Asia, and this is having a profound effect on children’s lifestyles.
8th GRAND PRIX
Aritra Nath(Age:11 boy)
India
This is my computer room. I practice computer here everyday. I am preparing my biodata. The room is air-conditioned and has decorative furniture.
Lifestyle varies greatly even within countries. The Enikki shows us what life is like ‘right now’ in each region.
8th GRAND PRIX
Muhammad Saad Ahmed
(Age:11 boy)
Islamic Republic of Pakistan
My village
I live in a village. My village is beautiful. It has a wonderful well. My mother and my aunt get water from the well. We have a chicken and a goat. Our village also has an orchard. I go to sc hool in the city. Our village has a beautiful mosque, too.
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