Date: Mon, 21 Aug 95 10:45:13 EST
From: [R--O--E] at [email.afip.osd.mil]
Subject: Georgetown manga symposium

     The symposium was cosponsored by Georgetown Univ's Dept. of Chinese & 
     Japanese and the embassy of Japan.  It occured on Jan 28, 1995 (so I'm 
     a little late) and was actually covered by the Washington Post.  I 
     didn't take notes, so some of this may be a little spotty or 
     misattributed.  
     
     The audience was about equally split between comics fans and 
     Asianophiles.  The session was moderated by Prof. Michael McCaskey, 
     who suggested it may be published later.
     
     Frederick Schodt, author of Manga! Manga! recapitulated much of the 
     discussions in his book with slides from the book.  To give some idea 
     of the popularity of Manga in Japan he showed slides of giant 
     convention centers TOTALLY filled with self-publishing creators.  
     You're in the wrong country guys.  I believe Schodt is planning a 
     revision of Manga...
     
     Kenshi Hirokane, a Japanese creator known for a salaryman comic, read 
     remarks on the role of manga in modern society.  He pointed out that 
     the annual circulation of manga is 2.25 billion or 47% of published 
     material.  Shonen Jump, a weekly magazine for boys, sells over 6 
     million copies a week.  He credited Osamu Tezuka for creating modern 
     Japanese comics (ala Kirby).  Fortunately he handed out a copy of his 
     speech so we could follow along.
     
     
     Toren Smith of Studio Proteus discussed how manga is actually 
     translated.  The art is flopped, partially redrawn since Japanese 
     sound effects differ from ours,  redialogued and ocassionally colored. 
     He had a nice set of transparencies to show what a job this is.
     
     Trish Ledoux of Viz Communications spoke of her faith in shojo manga 
     or comics for girls.  This is a subset in Japan with fairly strict  
     genre features such as caucasian features and big eyes.  Viz will be 
     apparently publishing more of this.
     
     Vaughan Simmons owns Mangajin magazine which published manga with 
     commentary for American businesses seeking to "understand the Japanese 
     mind."  (I said that, not him).  It looks interesting, but a year's 
     subscription was hideously expensive.  He walked us through a 
     salaryman comic showing a salaryman's disdain and obsiquiousness for 
     his boss.
     
     Prof John Lent discussed Japan's influence on comics in the rest of 
     Southeast Asia.  Basically, they've killed everyone else's industry.  
     What's usually published is pirated Japanese material.  However, it is 
     possible to use editorial cartooning and the few home-grown comics to 
     examine social culture.  For those interested, he's at Temple Univ. 
     and edits WittyWorld International Cartoon Magazine.  He's also 
     working on an international bibliography of cartoons.
     
     There was one more speaker, but it was getting late so I'm a little 
     hazy on what he said.  Another handout (besides some free comics) was 
     a 9 page article "The Japanese Manga" by Shigeo Nishimura, from the 
     Foreign Press Center, Japan.  
     
     Overall it was very interesting.  I wonder if they will print it.  I 
     don't have a scanner, but if someone is willing to scan them and dump 
     them at a central site, I'll send copies of the handouts.
     
     Mike Rhode