A woman smiling outdoors in front of green foliage, wearing a black turtleneck and a yellow cardigan.

About Me

Sachiko grew up in Asakusa, a historic Tokyo neighborhood of temples, wooden houses, and craft shops. In her parents’ hair salon, geisha came daily to have their hair styled, and she was captivated by the colors and patterns of their kimono and ornaments. Walking home from school, she passed alleys alive with taiko drums, shamisen, and voices rehearsing for traditional performances, sights and sounds that sparked her lifelong love of beauty and storytelling.

Her creative path has taken many turns. She studied English at university, then turned to photography, earning spots in national exhibitions before joining a major camera company. But art kept calling. In 1988, she moved to San Francisco to study metalsmithing, graphic design, and illustration. A few years later, she was in Uganda, collaborating with local artists and exhibiting at the Uganda National Museum, where she discovered her true passion for illustration.

Back in Tokyo, she held her first solo exhibition, followed by a mixed-media show of balsa wood sculptures and illustrated stories inspired by her time abroad. This blend of art and narrative led naturally to children’s books, a world she has embraced ever since. Her work has appeared on greeting cards, catalog and magazine covers, and in editorial spreads. Since partnering with a U.S. children’s book representative, she has illustrated numerous award-winning titles and created licensed art for board games, toys, and more.

Now based in California with her husband and daughter, Sachiko continues to create picture books and art for a wide range of projects. When not at her desk, she might be cooking, dancing, singing, or exploring nature trails, always seeking tiny wonders to spark her next story. Her life, spanning cultures, continents, and mediums, infuses her work with joyful, colorful worlds that she shares with readers everywhere.

  • United States:  
    Sterling Publishing, Little Golden Books, Random House, Simon & Schuster, Lerner Publishing Group, Henry Holt and Company,  Dial Books for Young Readers,  Marshall Cavendish, Albert Whitman & Company, National Geographic, Chronicle Books,  Publication International, Houghton Mifflin,  Scholastic,  Sesame Street, Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News, Novartis, Gibson Greetings, American Artisan Gallery, Aster Publishing, University of Oregon, Carolrhoda Books, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers/Christy Ottaviano Books, Harper Collins, Behran House, Two Lions, Starling, Picture Window Books

    Japan:
    Nippon Telephone & Telegraph (NTT), Fuso Publishing, Fellow Network K.K., Oji Seishi, SANRIO

    Television Shows:
    Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), National Television in Uganda

  • What Is Math? (Author: Rebecca Kai Dotlich)
    :: A NSTA-CBC 2023 Best STEM Book of the Year
    :: An Amazon Best Book of the Month 2023
    :: The Children’s Book Council 2023 Best STEM Books List

    No T. Rex in the Library (Author: Toni Buzzeo)
    :: 2010 Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories pick
    :: Scholastic Seesaw Book Club Selection

    First Food Fight This Fall and Other School Poems (Author: Marilyn Singer)  
    :: Chicago Public Library's "Best of the Best" in 2009

    Beach Is to Fun (Author: Pat Brisson)    
    :: 2007 Best Children’s Book of the Year by the Bank Street College of Education

    What Is Science? (Author: Rebecca Kai Dotlich)
    :: 2007 Best Children’s Book of the Year by the Bank Street College of Education
    :: Finalist for the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books in the Children’s Science Picture Book category of the 2007 Junior Library Guild Selection
    :: Gold Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Award

    Kindness Is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler (Author: Margery Cuyler)
    :: Junior Library Guild Selection

    The Boy from the Dragon Palace (Author: Margaret Read MacDonald)
    :: 2012 Storytelling World Award – Recognized as one of the Best Children's Books of the Year.
    :: 2011 New York Public Library 100 Books for Reading and Sharing
    :: 2012 Best Children’s Book of the Year by the Bank Street College of Education

    The Last day of Kindergarten (Author: Nancy Loewen)
    :: Minnesota Book Award Finalist (2012)

  • Cornish College of the Arts/ Seattle University (Seattle): Children’s book illustration Workshop

    Art Institute of Seattle (Seattle): Children’s book illustration lecture 

    Heiwanomori Elementary School (Tokyo): Bookmaking Workshop

    Sierra Oaks Elementary School (Sacramento): Bookmaking Workshop

    East Village Bookshop (Sacramento): Collage art workshop for children

  • The Fisher Boy: A Japanese Graphic Folktale by Debbi Michiko Florence 
    (Picture Window Books)

    How to Be a Mensch by A. Monster by Leslie Kimmelman
    (Behrman House / Apples & Honey Press )

    What Is Math? by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
    (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers / Christy Ottaviano Books)

    What Is Science? by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
    (Henry Holt and Company / Christy Ottaviano Books)

    The Boy from the Dragon Palace by Margaret Read MacDonald
    (Albert Whitman & Company)

    Silly Tilly and the Royal Rules by Barbara Bakowski
    (Lerner Publishing Group)

    Late for School! & Oopsy, Teacher! by Stephanie Calmenson
    (Carolrhoda Books)

    Shout! Little Poems that Roar by Brod Bagert
    (Penguin Young Readers Group / Dial Books for Young Readers)

    Our Librarian Won't Tell Us Anything! (Mrs. Skorupski Story, 1) by Toni Buzzeo
    (Upstart Books)

    Fire Up With Reading!(Mrs.Skorupski Story, 2) by Toni Buzzeo
    (Upstart Books)

    But I read it on the Internet! by Toni Buzzeo
    (Upstart Books)

    The Great Dewey Hunt by Toni Buzzeo
    (Upstart Books)

    The Last Day of Kindergarten by Nancy Loewen
    (Two Lions)

    No T. Rex in the Library by Toni Buzzeo
    (Simon & Schuster/ Margaret K. McElderry Books)

    First Food Fight This Fall and Other School Poems by Marilyn Singer
    (Sterling)

    Kindness Is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler by Margery Cuyler
    (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

    Sammy's Suitcase by Lisa Rojany Buccieri & Paper engineering by Bruce Foster
    (Random House Children’s Books / Robin Corey Books)

    Hamsters, Shells, and Spelling Bees: School Poems ( I Can Read Level 2) by Lee Bennett Hopkins
    (Harper Collins)

    Kitty Up! by Elizabeth Wojtusik
    (Penguin Young Readers Group / Dial Books for Young Readers)

    Hello, Sun by Dayle Ann Dodds
    (Penguin Young Readers Group / Dial Books for Young Readers)

    Beach Is to Fun: A Book of Relationships by Pat Brisson
    (Henry Holt and Company)

    Jump Into Science: Stars Part of: Jump Into Science (12 books) by Steve Tomecek
    (National Geographic Kids)

    Come Back, Zack! by Trish Holland
    (Little Golden Books)

    Boy, You're Amazing by Virginia L. Kroll
    (Albert Whitman & Co.)

    Razzamadaddy by Linda Walvoord
    (Marshall Cavendish Corp/Ccb)

    Bangurusu Sensei Chikoku Chikoku Late for School! Japanese Translation) by Stephanie Calmenson/ Translated by Noriko Kimura
    (Hisakata Child Japan)

  • Sachiko Yoshikawa solo exhibition; One Smile a Day Illustration Show @ PinPoint Gallery
    Tokyo, Japan

    “Love Now”  in celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
    Nordstrom Seattle, WA

    “Max Grover and Friends” @ Fountainhead Gallery
    Seattle, WA 

    Neighbors @ Piga Harajyuku Gallery
    Tokyo, Japan

    Recollections @ Piga Harajyuku Gallery
    Tokyo Japan