EDITORIAL: The anime hall of fame

A plan to use 11.7 billion yen from the supplementary budget to build a national comprehensive media arts center dubbed the "anime hall of fame" has drawn criticism.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs says an international base is needed for "media arts," including such forms of pop culture as manga, animation films, videogames and computer-generated art.

However, manga artists and researchers are voicing doubts about the plan while Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) calls it a symbol of pork-barrel spending. The main opposition party said it would scrap the project as soon as it comes to power.

The agency is in a big hurry to spend the unexpected budgetary allocation. Based on the logic that it must start construction as soon as possible because it is part of the government's pump-priming measures, crucial debate on what should go into the center is being left behind.

Even such important matters as how to select and display the exhibits, which will greatly affect the design of the building, have yet to be decided.

According to the agency, the private sector will be entrusted to run the center, with admission fees and other income covering the operating expenses.

But can the center continue to collect, maintain, study and display materials worthy of its name under such flimsy plans? We fear that without proper preparations, the project could end up as an empty "box."

Such media as manga and anime are a form of culture that symbolizes modern Japan. It also has a great impact on foreign countries and is expected to be a promising industry as well as a tourism resource. As such, it is very meaningful for the government to support research in this area and promote the arts.

Traditionally, materials collected by individuals have played a major role in advancing research and popularizing the art forms. Research and cultural facilities that inherited such passion have also opened across Japan.

The Kyoto International Manga Museum was established jointly by Kyoto Seika University and the city of Kyoto in 2006. Operators spent 1.2 billion yen to buy and renovate the building of a closed-down elementary school for the museum.

The museum houses about 300,000 manga books, most of which were donated. In fiscal 2008, it received 280,000 visitors, 10 percent of whom were foreigners. It also receives a large number of inquiries from foreign media organizations and research institutes.

In Tokyo, Meiji University is advancing plans to build an international research center on pop culture. Before constructing the center, it plans to open a library this summer and is now gathering diversified materials. The university plans to establish the large facility within the next few years and open it to the public.

As for government organizations, the National Diet Library has a collection of manga and anime DVDs while the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, has a film center.

If the government advances cooperation with such facilities and studies how to support them, it should be able to come up with a substantial policy to promote the arts.

Many kinds of work are difficult for individual facilities to undertake by themselves, such as creating cross-sectional databases and comprehensive websites. The government can also take the initiative in translating works into various foreign languages and sending out information overseas.

The training of young artists is also an important problem. The government should come up with flexible thinking that focuses on such projects.

If it still needs a building after implementing such policies, it should reconsider its approach.

The current method of giving first consideration to constructing a building before thinking about what it should house could dampen the growing trend to attach importance to modern pop culture. Nothing could be more unfortunate.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 26(IHT/Asahi: June 27,2009)