In Japan, we observed firsthand that pretend play was scarce, even in play spaces designed for children. Japanese play spaces were highly themed, organized, and structured.

When Japanese children do engage in pretend play, it is often very rule-based. As Takahashi (2016) found, for Japanese children, “playing roles means playing rules” (p. 94).

In the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Korea, other museums featuring children’s book art now draw steady streams of multigenerational visitors; the number of such museums in Japan ...