By TOMOKI TAJIMA/ Staff Writer
August 30, 2024 at 18:08 JST
An archivist examines original manga drawings. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The Agency for Cultural Affairs launched a committee to develop a new national facility dedicated to collecting, preserving and exhibiting original manga and animation artwork on Aug. 29.
The committee, comprised of creators, industry leaders and academics, will initially focus on defining the roles and functions of this new facility by the end of September.
The project is part of the government’s broader cultural and entertainment export policy, the New Cool Japan Strategy, which was unveiled in June.
The government policy calls for the establishment of a “national center for media arts” dedicated to archiving original manga drawings, animation cels and other valuable artworks.
In response to the initiative, the agency has requested 93 million yen ($641,000) in the upcoming fiscal year’s budget. These funds will be allocated toward digitizing animation works and recruiting specialized experts to manage the collection.
The plans reflect the growing importance of the global market for manga, anime, games and other content industries, which collectively generated 123.6 trillion yen in 2019.
It surpassed the semiconductor and petrochemical industries, which totaled 77 trillion yen and 89.9 trillion yen, respectively, in 2022.
Japan’s domestic market for content industries reached 13.1 trillion yen in 2022.
While there has been a growing appreciation for production art such as original manga drafts and hand-drawn animation sheets, the loss and export of many of these original works to overseas collectors have become significant concerns.
In 2018, original artwork for Osamu Tezuka’s “Astro Boy” was sold at an auction in France for approximately 35 million yen.
South Korea and China have already established facilities to preserve such materials, while France is set to open a similar center in 2027.
Japan has institutions such as the Yokote Masuda Manga Museum in Yokote, Akita Prefecture. However, an agency official expressed the desire to create a hub that connects existing facilities to form a network.
The plan involves a collaborative effort between public and private sectors to gather, safeguard and showcase these precious cultural assets.
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