Bata Neart

NB! Reads Japanese Style RIGHT TO LEFT 😀 !!

Hello and welcome back for another page of this one-shot manga, and yet another slice of its backstory.

Part 2: Manga School Nakano

Manga School Nakano (MSN) is located at the Taiken Academy’s Nakano Campus in Tokyo, along with other arts and sports schools attached to Taiken. Nao and various manga-ka work there as instructors to mostly local students who come and take one of their various manga courses.

The idea of an international program at MSN was what had initially triggered my communication and internet friendship with Nao, and this idea had always been running in the background during the various years that I had known her. Whenever the question of the English course came up I would try my best to offer re-assurance to Nao that it was an excellent idea. This is something I still strongly believe.

I have always felt that manga is an art-style that lends itself well to artists from all over the world, and that you don’t need to be from Japan to both love & practice it. Spreading this knowledge from its homeland to all those who wished to learn it was something that I felt was an excellent cause. With that knowledge coming from someone as awesome as Nao, I could only see the good of this idea.

Practically speaking however, the plan was difficult and Nao seemed to have some challenges convincing the school about this international program. She would often offer one-on-one sessions to foreign students who would come and book 1-2 hour lessons with her. Occasionally some exchange students would come for a week or so, and do more intensive work. However all of that was limited to students who could actually go to Japan in person. For many prospective students such as myself, travelling to Japan was (although a delightful idea) practically very difficult, particularly in terms of cost, work/family obligations, and the fact that jet-lag made a short trip untenable.

Nao originally coined the idea of a Manga School holiday, which she had started pitching to various embassies and cultural exchange programs. (Documentation for this was among the first items I proof read for Nao.) I had also tried to convince her of the idea of online ‘Distance Learning’, where students would learn at home via video links, and submit homework via email etc…

She had already considered online learned herself as a way to promote to program. However the school lacked the necessary IT staff for such a system, and that challenge seemed to be difficult to overcome.

However, thanks to our friends at Google…things were about to change. Technology was going to bring the program the very tools that it needed.

More on this next week…