Interest
Man Honors Missing Adventurer With Manga About His Life
posted on by Bamboo Dong
While comic books frequently tell the stories of powerful superheroes who fight crime and save lives, they can also tell the story of other, less conventional heroes. Like Naomi Uemura, a Japanese adventurer best known for making solo treks to far-off destinations like the North Pole, feats typically accomplished only by large teams. Unfortunately, his adventuring days were cut short the winter of 1984 when he vanished shortly after summiting Alaska's Mount McKinley solo.
Now his tales of adventure, as well as his younger years, will be immortalized in a manga by his close college friend Ken Hiroe, who together with Uemura was part of Meiji University's alpine club. Hiroe previously published a book of stories about Uemura in 1986, and wanted to reach out to younger readers with something more easily accessible like a manga.
The book chronicles aspects of Uemura's life not well known to others, such as his early efforts to become physically stronger (members of his college alpine club called him donguri, or acorn, because he fell over easily), and a chronology of his life. It was created with the illustrative help of Rentaro Iwata, who operates Tottori city's Manga Kobo production studio.
As for the decision to turn Uemura's life story into a manga, Hiroe said, "I want children to know that they can realize their dreams if they continue to make efforts toward their goals."
Wagatomo Uemura Naomi (My Friend Naomi Uemura ) is selling for 1,300 yen (about $12.78), and will be sold at bookstores in Tottori and Shimane prefectures, as well as the Uemura Naomi Memorial Museum in Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture.
Source: Asahi Shimbum; images from Asahi Shimbum, Japan Foundation
