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Usamaru Furuya Speaks at Symposium on Teaching and Manga
posted on by Eric Stimson
Last weekend, the Japan Society for Studies in Cartoons and Comics held its 16th conference at Tokyo Polytechnic University in Nakano, Tokyo. On June 25 scholars presented their research (sample topics: "The Role Translation Plays in Spreading Manga Overseas: The Example of Manga Translated into Chinese" and "The Orphan Plot in Postwar Manga: An Analysis of Early Tezuka and Shōnen Club") and socialized in the evening. On June 26, Usamaru Furuya (Lychee Light Club) joined fellow manga artists Mitsuru Sugaya (Game Center Arashi) and Hitoshi Ogino in discussing manga and school — both as an educational tool in general and how it is taught in art school.
The first talk, Teaching with Manga, occurred from 10:30 to 12:30 and featured Sugaya and Ogino along with Professor Gō Itō of Tokyo Polytechnic University and Naoko Kubo, a teacher at Hijiyama University. From 2 to 4 PM, the talk shifted to Teaching Manga, and included Furuya, Itō, Yūgo Tsukagoshi (a teacher at Nagoya Shidami Junior High School) and Gō Ogawa (a research associate at Sōjō University).
An academic symposium on anime and psychology was also held in Sapporo and Tokyo last year. Furuya also offers his artistic skills as a portraitist for hire.
Source: Japan Society for Studies in Cartoons and Comics via Comic Natalie
