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Manga Creator Ken Akamatsu Visits Mumbai's The Comic Book Store
posted on by Adriana Hazra
Ken Akamatsu, creator of Love Hina and Negima, as well Japan's Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology visited Mumbai's very own The Comic Book Store in Bandra. The proprietor of the establishment Hamza Sayed posted about Akamatsu's visit on Saturday.
Big day for us at The Comic Book Store!
— The Comic Book Store (@tcbsin) May 31, 2025
We hosted Hon'ble Japanese Minister @KenAkamatsu (fun fact: he's also a legendary manga creator!) who spent 2 hours with us exploring how to spread manga culture in India.
We're still buzzing!#MangaIndia #JapanIndia #ComicBookStore pic.twitter.com/ZPKjV2yVTD
According to Sayed, Akamatsu spent two hours browsing the store, discussing the promotion of manga in India, and interacting with Eisner award-winning comic book artist Anand Radhakrishnan and visual artist Santanu Hazarika. Akamatsu later posted a series of manga panels to his X/Twitter account regarding his visit to India that details why the country is a prime location for "manga diplomacy."
Akamatsu was part of a panel at The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India and Media and Entertainment Association of India's (MEAI) World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES) event. The Mumbai edition of this year's WAVES took place on March 23. The Comic Book Store claims the title of "India's 1st comic book store" and offers a variety of comics, collectibles, and manga in its store and online.
He launched the UQ Holder! Magister Negi Magi! 2 manga with the title of UQ Holder! in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine in Japan in August 2013. The manga transferred to Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in October 2016, with the new title UQ Holder! Magister Negi Magi! 2, fully revealing the manga as a sequel to Akamatsu's earlier Negima! manga. He ended the manga in February 2022 during his campaign to run for the House of Councillors.
Tokyopop and Kodansha Comics have published Love Hina in English. Negima was available in English in India as part of Penguin Random House' Del Rey imprint while the manga was ongoing in Japan. Kodansha Comics now publishes the manga in English. Both manga and Akamatsu's Itsudatte My Santa manga inspired various anime projects, and Negima also inspired a live-action television series.
Akamatsu, a member of Japan's big tent conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), became the first manga creator to win a seat in Japan's House of Councillors (upper house) in the National Diet (parliament). Akamatsu has historically focused on issues affecting Japanese creators, including the controversial freelance invoice taxation system.
Akamatsu delved into politics in 2011 when he warned that proposed changes to Japan's Copyright Law would "destroy" derivative dōjin (self-published) works. Akamatsu launched J-Comi's "Zeppan Manga Toshokan" (later Manga Library Z) digital manga library service in 2008. The site shut down on November 26, due to issues with credit card companies and a termination of all payment services.
Sources: Ken Akamatsu's X/Twitter account, The Comic Book Store's X/Twitter account and Instagram account
