By TAKUJI HIRAGA/ Staff Writer
February 3, 2024 at 08:00 JST
The Agency for Cultural Affairs will study methods for preserving original manga drawings of precious cultural value to prevent them from being lost or dispersed overseas.
To accumulate expertise on preservation techniques, the agency will enlist the help of Tetsuya Chiba, the 85-year-old artist famed for boxing manga “Tomorrow’s Joe.”
Agency officials said Jan. 18 the project would be entrusted to a private business recruited through an open competition.
The government-affiliated National Museum of Art, operator of the National Art Center, Tokyo, and the National Museum of Western Art, will also cooperate, the officials said.
The project will involve cataloging around 48,000 manga-related interim items in Chiba’s possession, including original drawings and storyboards, and determining an appropriate state of preservation.
It will also study digitization techniques for several dozen manga pieces and check their rights status for possible future use, the officials added.
Japanese anime and manga have become extremely popular overseas, and enthusiasts are also showing a strong interest in interim products, such as animation cels.
Original drawings by famous manga artists, such as Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989), have fetched high prices at auctions abroad.
Some critics feel such cultural resources are being drained from Japan.
In addition, memorabilia of deceased manga artists have often been stored in poor preservation environments.
Calls have grown for government involvement in systematic management and digital archiving of the cultural artwork.
About 34 million yen ($230,000) was earmarked in the fiscal 2023 budget for the study program. Officials plan to publish the results of the study by the end of fiscal 2024.
An additional 190 million yen was included in the draft of the fiscal 2024 budget for a program to preserve and use anime and manga materials.
Agency officials said they also plan to study materials of manga artists other than Chiba.
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One of Tetsuya Chiba’s original manga drawings to be studied by the Agency for Cultural Affairs (Provided by the Agency for Cultural Affairs)
