Human resource development in manga and international collaboration

　The control committee of Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology “Anime/Manga Industry/Academic/Government Collaboration Consortium” was held recently. The policy handles curriculum development, digital production support, and career advancement support for human resource development in anime and manga. I serve as the chairperson of the committee.

　We are especially rushing the digital compatibility.

　Digital books and magazines sales were ¥10.13 billion in 2013. Among those, comics were ¥7.31 billion. 70% of digital books are manga. This is the transition period for professional artists to move to digital. Countermeasures and support are necessary. We want to make a structure with a place for educating digital animation, production, and editing that connects to business. Takeshiba CiP would also like to help.

　“Digital Manga Campus Match” is also in progress. It is a plan to produce everything between new talent scouting, nurturing, and commercialization with the participation of manga artists including Ms. Machiko Satonaka, comic editorial departments from 10 companies including Kodansha, Shueisha, and Shogakukan, and 70 vocational schools and universities. I serve as the executive committee chairperson.

　Japan is an advanced region of manga, but raising the standard globally by international collaboration is also important. We hosted the symposium of “Tokyo International Comic Festival” on the day of the committee. In addition to the participants from France, Italy, Spain, and Russia, Mr. Tetsuya Chiba and Ms. Machiko Satonaka attended. They discussed the globalization and digitization of manga.

　40% of all manga in France is Japanese manga. 20% of imported manga in Spain is from Japan. There is a report on the increase in number of people who learn Japanese in Italy, due to the impact of manga. Russia is a little late to the game, since overseas culture started flowing in after the system changed from Soviet Union to Russia.

　However, paper culture is strong in all cases, and there are only few e-books and digital manga, which are yet to be spread. Japan is leading in this area.

　Mr. Tetsuya Chiba pointed out that we are at the major turning point for digitization. Ms. Machiko Satonaka also recognized that the transition to digital is essential because of the issues with paper resources and distribution, and she pointed out the pros of digitization, such as the availability of rich tools that make it easier to become a professional manga artist. However, both expressed their concerns about copyright and piracy issues.

　Issues are common around this area, but there was little international exchange. It left a strong impression on me when Mr. Tetsuya Chiba focused on the global nature of manga, citing the quote of Mr. Takashi Yanase “Countries in which people read manga are peaceful,” and promoted the international discussion in manga area.

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Digital Manga Campus Match

　The effort started to recruit students who are aspiring cartoonists to submit their works, get them judged by cartoonists and creators, involve editorial departments from major comic magazines, discover talent, and lead to business.

　70 schools including universities and vocational schools participate. 30 comic editorial departments from 10 companies including Kodansha, Shueisha, and Shogakukan provide outlets. I am the executive committee chairperson.

　I greeted the group at the kick-off gathering.

　When I was little, I wanted to become a cartoonist. But I did not know how. I only got to a level at which I read manga textbooks from Mr. Shotaro Ishimori Mr. Fujio Akatsuka. If I knew that there was a manga school, I may have tried to attend. But I am still not sure how you could become a professional, even if you went to school.

　I was told I would become a bad boy, if I read too much manga. However, manga and anime are national treasures these days because of Cool Japan. Such contents. The word “contents” was born in Japan 20 years ago. At that time, the government committee cited the important issues as the way to develop talent who create contents, and the fact that Japan lacked schools for the purpose.

　20 years have passed. Many came from manga schools today. I was also involved in creating the Media Design Research course at the graduate school of Keio University to develop human resources for creating contents. There are examples such as Kyoto Seika University in which a globally recognized cartoonist became the dean. It seems as the situation has changed. However, that does not mean that manga industry and contents industry have been revitalized.

　I work on putting together the contents policy of the government and the Intellectual Property Headquarters. Human resources development for contents is mentioned as the important issue in the intellectual property plan, which is issued by the government every year. However, the current issue is enriching the people in manga industry and contents industry by the developed talents and generating results.

　This project, which is specialized in digital is executed only with private funds without depending on the government. 70 schools gather and 30 editorial departments give support there. This means we can create such a place. Let’s generate results!

 Cartoonist Ms. Machiko Satonaka said to the audience through the microphone. “People will grow. There are schools to nurture them. But the problem is the exit. Can we prepare an exit in which people can have dream and hope? Because of digitization, anyone can express manga now. Let’s expand that possibility. You (that would be me) should draw your own manga, too.”

　Touché, she threw a jab at me.

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Workshop Collection 10!

　The 10th Workshop Collection was held at Aoyama Gakuin University in Shibuya, Tokyo. It was packed with various projects as a new initiative to compile and to take a new step.

　In addition to diverse genres including molding, craft, digital, video, music, and dance as well as more than 100 workshop programs, there were numerous booths that utilized new technologies such as learning programming, 3D printer, and robot that are surging around the world.

　The new challenge was the “Creative Kids Day” that was held at the same time with the Workshop Collection. It was an effort to create places for children simultaneously around Japan. About 150 workshops all over Japan participated in this annual festival that supports children’s “Creating.”

　To reflect the trend of the time, there were more digital and programming education workshops. Numerous programming learning workshops participated that combined a small computer called Raspberry Pi and a programming language for children called Scratch developed by MIT.

　Workshop Collection host CANVAS and Google's collaboration programming learning project “PEG” also held game making and robot making workshops.

　Another characteristic of this year was the increase of robot workshops. I think we succeeded the expansion of digital, programming, and robotics.

　We went out from the campus to the city this time. Creative Kids Day was also held around Japan simultaneously. Workshops were also held in Aichi, Kyoto, and Okinawa. The original goal of the workshop was the nationwide development. It was finally achieved at the 10th year.

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