Report: Hokkaido Comic Research Group
On August 19th, the first meeting for the “Hokkaido Comic Research Group” was held at the Sapporo City College satellite in Chuo-ku, Sapporo.
The group gathered together in the spring of 2007 with the intent of making comic books the core of content industry in Hokkaido, as it is known to produce many of the comic book artists of Japan. The group is composed of Sapporo comic book artists, game producers, printing companies, and university researchers.
The theme this meeting was “Comic books as a regional resource and the vitalization of the community of Hokkaido”. First, the representative of the group, Toshiyuki Masubuchi spoke about the effect comic books have on communities. As examples, he spoke of the influence comic books had when they included real cities in Japan, such as Shonan and Kamakura.
His passionate explanation of the effects comic books have on the economy was a very intriguing subject.
Following, the guest speaker’s subject was “The economic growth of Toyako encouraged by comic books”.
An interesting point was the use of copyrights. As artists this right is something we deserves, but the difficulty that comes with the use and enforcing of such rights is a challenge.
Finally, the first free comic book in Hokkaido, “Comic RAG”, was introduced. It mainly publishes work by comic book artists residing in Sapporo, but a notable point is that it is planned, maintained, and published entirely by college students.
To surpass Tokyo, then Japan, and ending with a global audience would be ideal, says Yuki Hayashi, editor in chief. She believes that a good environment and efforts to spread a network of artists will help increase the quality of Comic RAG.
A universal theme within the meeting was the possibility of comic books as content.
The increase in comic book artists will also differentiate Sapporo from many cities in Japan. We hope to lay strong roots for the comic books of Sapporo to grow toward the rest of the world.
