This beautiful cover features an illustration by famous Japanese graphic designer and illustrator Makoto Wada.

Wada has illustrated the covers of the literary magazine Shukan Bunshun for over 40 years. The Time-Traveling Bird techo cover uses the art from that very first issue, originally published on May 12, 1977. In it, a little bird holds an airmail letter beneath a starry night sky. The image was Wada’s way of saying, “This magazine cover is a message to readers.”

This cover actually includes additional art as well. The pockets of the cover interior show the little green bird flapping his wings as he carries the letter.

This version is actually from the July 20, 2017 magazine issue, which celebrated Wada’s 2000th cover. This little green bird has traveled very far, flying across 40 years of time.

These two pieces of art, symbolic of Wada’s body of work on the Shukan Bunshun magazine covers, are each like a message to the viewer, and are now combined into a single techo cover.