Japan Stall at the book fair

The Japan Foundation has put up a stall at the World Book Fair, New Delhi
whose main focus is on promoting Manga comics. The Manga collection on
display cover action, detective, dramas, romance and many more genres.
A screen at the entrance of the stall shows anime films through the day.

In an interview, Machiko Yamamura, the Assistant Director of Japan
Foundation said that their aim was to introduce Manga, something that
is hugely popular among the Japanese youth to the Indian youth. She
added, “Everyone knows about Ikebana and Origami so we wanted to
introduce those aspects of Japanese culture that are not that well
known in India through the medium of this exhibition of books.”
Talking about the reading habit among Japanese, she said that Japanese
like to read a lot. They use it to unwind from their stressful work situations.
Machiko Yamamura said she was curious to know the reactions of people,
 especially the youth visiting the book fair, to the Manga comics.

Alongside the comics there are small figurines of these Manga characters
and their costumes on display at the Manga Cafe. The figurines exhibit
the popularity of Manga in contemporary Japan and raise the interest
of those who are gradually being ushered into the magical world of
Manga through this exhibition.

For the uninitiated... Manga is the Japanese word for 'comic' or 'cartoon'.
In the west the word 'Manga' has come about to be used for cartoons or
comics produced in Japan or by Japanese authors in Japanese language
in a style that was developed in late 19th century.

Photos courtesy: Safal Choudhary