Spirits of Action: Japanese Manga and Sports Online Talk

Date: 2020 October 14 19:41

Posted by Joe

With COVID-19 still placing restriction on events the good people at Japan Foundation London have got a great range of talks and workshops appearing online soon.

One talk we're excited about is the Spirits of Action: Japanese Manga and Sports . Yoshimura Kazuma will discuss the position of 'sports manga' in Japanese culture and how its contents have evolved to reflect the time. After the presentation anime and manga expert Rayna Denison will join in the conversation.

The online event is set to run at 12:00pm (BST) on Wednesday 28th October 2020. The event is free to attend virtually but places are limited and registration is essential.

Full Story

Press release as follows:

Online Talk Spirits of Action: Japanese Manga and Sports



Date: Wednesday, 28 October 2020, 12:00pm (BST)
Online Event hosted on Zoom

Being an avid manga reader and a sport fanatic may seem to be mutually exclusive characteristics. In Japanese manga history, however, they have always been a good match and played well together in attracting manga fans as well as enthusiastic sports players. From tennis to judo, a huge variety of sports have been a source of inspiration for the 'sports manga' form of the graphic novel read by girls, boys, and young adults alike, and the genre has kept driving the market and readership forward. Certain works have gained huge momentum and have become a trend in Japanese society. The genre's continuing popularity and influence is proven in the fact that many 'sports manga' titles have been adapted into other media such as film and animation.

In the lead up to TOKYO2020 (postponed to next year), the Japan Foundation has invited YOSHIMURA Kazuma of Kyoto Seika University to talk about the inseparable relationship between manga and sports. Succinctly tracing its history from post-war to today, YOSHIMURA will discuss the position of 'sports manga' in Japanese culture and how its contents have evolved to reflect the time, society and people's spirits, and indeed how the genre has managed to keep attracting Japanese readers, as well as manga artists, even while changing its shape.

After YOSHIMURA's presentation, there will be a brief conversation with Rayna Denison.

About the speakers
YOSHIMURA Kazuma completed coursework for a Ph.D. program at Ritsumeikan University. He currently serves as the head of the Faculty of Manga, as well as at the International Manga Research Center. His field of research is in the history of philosophy and manga studies. Yoshimura's published work includes Manga's Handling of Prejudice (2007), Manga Textbook (2008), Multiple Hiroshima (2012), 'Chiran' as a convenient manga experience - Media dynamics of 'Authentic record on KAMIKAZE' (printed in The Birth of Chiran, edited by Yoshiaki Fukuma, Makoto Yamazaki, 2015), and Osamu Tezuka - 'the God of Manga' fostered by unfavorable wind (printed in Intellectual History of Japanese People Vol.4 (2015, Iwanami Shoten).

Rayna Denison is a Senior Lecturer in and Head of Department for the Film, Television and Media Studies at the University of East Anglia. Her research and teaching interests centre on Japanese film and animation. She is the author of Anime: A Critical Introduction (Bloomsbury 2015), and the editor of Princess Mononoke: Understanding Studio Ghibli's Monster Princess (Bloomsbury 2018). Her scholarly articles can be found in many leading journals, including Cinema Journal, Velvet Light Trap, Japan Forum and the International Journal of Cultural Studies.

Image credit: 原作／恵本裕子、脚色・構成・作画／小林まこと「JJM　女子柔道部物語」第一巻（講談社、2016年）
©小林まこと／講談社

This online event is free to attend but places are limited and registration is essential.

To reserve your space, please click here.