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One Manga Author is Teaching His Craft to Prisoners
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Manga author Ryō Sonoba is taking a step away from his work as a mystery manga artist to create an essay about his recent work in Japanese prisons. His non-fictional work Keimusho de Manga o Oshiete Imasu. (I'm Teaching Manga in Prison) details his experience teaching inmates how to draw manga at the Mine Rehabilitation Program Center in Yamaguchi prefecture.
Some of the inmates' work has appeared as background images in Sonoba's published manga, like Asami Mitsuhiko Mystery Special #23: Yogore Chimatta Michi. Other images drawn by Sonoba's students can be purchased for use at the website Mangaka Honpo.
Mine Rehabilitation Program Center is a short-term facility that houses first-offense inmates with low risk of recidivism. The center's web page explains that the manga background drawing program is thought to help with social reintegration and "cultivate perseverance and concentration."
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Sonoba launched the new manga in the June issue of Monthly Comic Flapper on May 2. Sonoba wrote on Twitter that he would like to continue to draw his interactions with inmates as long as possible, with permission from the Ministry of Justice.
Source: Comic Natalie
