Facebook, that behemoth of a social media site, is very good at reminding people of memories. It’s kinda like those memberries from South Park, most of the time the memories it chooses to remind you of are fairly insigificant. Such as “hey, remember when your dog threw up on your bed?” or “remember when you got stuck in jury duty?” Yeah, those are days I wanted to remember.
However, this time their memories function managed to dig up our trip to Japan last year. Not that I had forgotten it at all, it was pretty significant, but what I didn’t do was share photos of the trip! It was a pretty intense trip visiting family and friends, and by the time we’d get back home or to our hotel rooms, I was just too exhausted to post anything. What Facebook reminded me of was to actually share with you some photos of our trip, what we did, and share stories.
We actually took off for Japan on St. Patrick’s day last year, but arrived on March 18th in Tokyo. We stayed at my “older sister,” Megumi’s, place in Tokyo. And for a second I’m going to stop and note something:
***I have to say “older sister” in quotes because Megumi is like my older sister, but not genetically linked. Just like Junko, who I’m sure will be mentioned later, is like my “younger sister.” Neither of them are related to me by blood, but we’re like family since I’m an only child and both these ladies have had a huge impact on my life. Megumi is my older sister from my host family in Nagoya, I lived with her family when I was studying abroad over a decade ago. In the case of Junko, she stayed with my family when she visited America in high school, we’ve known each other (and each other’s families) for nearly twenty years. It’s the same case with Ayumi, who will also get mentioned later, she stayed with my family throughout our college years and I’ve also known her for over a decade. Ayumi was in my wedding party, and Megumi was a guest to our wedding, so what I’m trying to say is that although we’re not bloody related, we’ve become a family. ***
Okay, back to the story. We got to visit the Shonen Jump Shop at Tokyo Dome City with Megumi and her husband Kiyo. I’m a huge One Piece fan, so naturally all the photos with Luffy and the crew. I also was able to pick up more editor copies of manga boards, I love these because I can show my students what the editing process for manga looks like. The boards, usually two page spreads, show editor’s comments, approval stamps, and page stamps for where they’ll be published in the Shonen Jump magazine. I love how behind-the-scenes it feels, just a little glimpse into the larger comic industry.
After we visited Tokyo Dome City, we hopped on the subway to go to Tokyo Tower, they had a special One Piece exhibit event there! It was a fantastic surprise! I know One Piece isn’t super popular in America, but it is very popular in Japan.
-Kat
This just in, the Japanese Ministry of Forign Affairs has announced the submission timelines for the 11th Annual International Manga Award (11回の日本国際漫画賞). Submissions can be submitted starting this Friday, March 17th, until June 16th, 2017.
Some of the conditions for entering: at least either the writer or artist (in my case, both) have to be a forigner, submissions can be published or non-published, from professional and non-professional artists, but have to be at least 16 pages long. The purpose of the award competition is to help spread the art of manga and its subculture outside of Japan. There is a grand-prize (Gold Award) and three prizes, or Silver Awards. Those four winners will then be invited for a 10 day stay in Japan next February and an invitation to the awards banquet.
For more information, please visit the link above.
You know I’ll be submitting a manga, I have been working on it for the past year! It has been a few years since I have submitted to a Japanese comic (manga) competition. Unlike last time, this isn’t a competition held by a publisher, but rather the National Govermentment of Japan.
Keep being awesome, and good luck!
Kat
Found a blast from the past while cleaning out old files on my computer tonight, a video I made 7 years ago which highlights a lot of the adventures, people, and places that shaped my life in Nagoya and Tokyo. There are bits of Kyoto thrown in as well as Meijimura outside of Nagoya. A bulk of the video portions were filmed on a trip for a friend’s wedding in 2010, that this the married couple you see bowing at one point in full tradional costume. As an aside, you get to see what my natural hair color is too (what, it’s not naturally pastel wintermint green? Say it ain’t so!)
Parts of the video are missing as the didn’t render properly on the old laptop I made the video on. Plus, some of the photos are of horrific quality because of an old camera that didn’t adjust light well. But, the video is like a little love letter to Japan from me. 
Also, thank you to everyone who helped shape my experiences in Japan! Heres to many more.
Music is “Mediational Field” by Susumu Hirasawa from the movie Paprika. Which is a wonderful movie. Fun fact, this is the first song that featured the “vocaloid” voice, which is now known as “Lola.” You would know her chipper cousin Hatsune Miku a bit better, though.
Keep being awesome,
Kat
***This is the fourth day of the One-Week Cartooning Workout created by the Center of Cartoon Studies. If you are interestedin participating in the cartooning workout, you can sign up here.***
Here is today’s challenge:
Take your favorite anecdote from yesterday’s challenge and break it down into no more than twenty-four thumbnail images using one index card per panel. Don’t spend too much time on these drawings. They are a plan that you will use to later draw the finished comic. Keep things simple and loose so that you can get into the “graphic design” nature of thumbnailing- moving elements around to to create a pleasing and legible formal arrangement. This isn’t a time to make detailed drawings. Make sure at least five panels capture a sense of place.
Ummm, okay. I *think* I may have 24 index cards to make 24 panels? Since Nor’easter Stella blew through, I’m really not leaving my house to go get more. {Wanders around the house to look for index cards for the next 10 minutes.}
Oh hey, good news, I managed to find some old index cards left over from making kanji flashcards! They are bit on the large side (5×3″ each) but they’ll do I think! 
[24 hours later]
Well, I managed to draw up the index cards as instructed! However, I only managed to fill up 20 cards instead of 24 as suggested. Not too shabby, but really this exercise took A LOT of time. So much time in fact, that the last 10 index cards just have wat I plan to sketch onto them instead of a quick sketch because there just wasn’t enough time.
This is a recurring problem I’m finding with the CCS Cartoon Workout, whoever put this together is clearly out-of-touch with the demands of normal working people and families. The exercises just take a little too much time to complete, and are only getting longer.
-Kat
