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U.S. Navy to Create Manga to Explain Itself to Japan
posted on by Egan Loo
Stars and Stripes, the daily newspaper of the United States Armed Forces, reports that the public affairs office for the Commander, Naval Forces Japan (CNFJ) will be producing a manga to explain its mission to the Japanese public. According to its spokesperson, Commander David Waterman, the goal is reach Japanese people in their twenties and thirties. “We used comics as a means to introduce a summary of [a defense white paper] that is easily understandable for young people.” The office has already produced trading cards for Japanese children.
The CNFJ is still developing the storyline, and it will contract out the artwork and production. As planned, the 40-page, all-Japanese booklet will feature a male and a female sailor on the U.S.S. George Washington aircraft carrier and their experiences both abroad in various countries and at Yokosuka Naval Base, the carrier's port in Japan.
Japan's own Ministry of Defense has created three manga booklets for its mascot Prince Pickles to explain its mission to its citizens, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has Detective Conan explaining its mission. The Maritime Self-Defense Force, Japan's nominally non-military fleet, has recruited new sailors with idol group and sentai imagery.
