Manga Summit Focused on Environment Held in Kyoto

Copyright Kyoto International Manga Museum

The Ninth International Comic Artist Conference, held by comic artists mainly from East Asia was held in Kyoto City, western Japan, from September 6-8. Since the "manga" summit took place in Kyoto this year, where the Kyoto Protocol was drafted, the conference focused on environmental innovation as a main subject, and utilized "manga" as a medium to raise awareness about global warming prevention activities, food education, and the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, and recycle.)

At the Manga Summit Festa 2008, an event organized for general visitors, an area called "Let's draw a future low carbon society" was set up. There, popular manga artists delivered messages about global warming prevention by drawing their friendly original characters on a large, 2.5 x 3 meter panel. Machiko Satonaka, a leader of the planning committee　drew cute aliens on the panel and remarked, "Through environmental beautification activities, I hope the earth will become a tourist destination for visitors from outer space."

At the symposium on manga and the environment, organized by comic artists working in Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, artists exchanged opinions about the issue. Also, at a panel discussion on manga and food culture, the speakers made presentations on the relationship between food culture and cartoons. One of the opinions expressed in the discussion was that manga artists have a responsibility to offer their readers various information about such topics as food safety and health, through their work.

- The 2008 9th International Manga Summit in Kyoto
http://www.manga-summit.jp/english/index.html

Posted: 2009/01/22 06:00:12 AM