30 teachers head to Eastern Europe to spread Anime, Manga and etc.

by Crystal
Dec 25, 2007 5:47 PM | 22 Comments

The Japanese government has decided on December 21 and 22 to allocate 147 million yen (about US$1.3 million) to spread anime, manga, and other elements of Japanese popular culture in Eastern Europe. The decision was made during cabinet-level discussions between Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukuaga and the other ministers on the 2008 budget. Although the "Program to Spread Japanese Culture" will ostensibly send 30 people to teach Japanese in Hungary and three other countries, its main purpose is to introduce Japanese popular culture. Anime and manga are specifically named as the aspects of Japanese culture that the program will introduce. The 147 million yen is part of the remaining 50 billion yen (US$400 million) that needed to be allocated before the December 24 Cabinet meeting that will actually approve the overall budget plan.

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20 of 22 Comments Recent Comments

Lothen said:
who is patricia-san ??

Consider yourself lucky*. Don't bother finding out.

Dec 27, 2007 9:07 PM by AnimusNathan

Lothen said:
who is patricia-san ??

blasphemy...

ready the pitchforks!!!!

anyways.. she's a lucky star supporting character. do a character search for patricia martin.

Dec 27, 2007 8:09 PM by removed-user

who is patricia-san ??

Dec 27, 2007 3:12 PM by Lothen

Brian333 said:
Otaku are the pride of Japanese culture!

this world needs more patricia-sans.

Yeah...

Now if only they could do that for the UK, Most of them are over here (and probably wouldnt be so bad for the British...)

Dec 27, 2007 2:46 PM by OmegaRFox

I live in Ukraine (Eastern Europe FYI) and have yet to be amazed....If they really will do this....

Well, we'll see how it goes.

Dec 27, 2007 3:26 AM by EmeraldWolfChild

Those 30 teachers will for sure amount to nothing in their lives :D and waste all their time in Eastern Europe. I'm sure if Kamen Rider Stronger (Shigeru Araki, ran a few months ago) was PM all of that money would have been better spent. Isn't like their current PM or Vice PM into Gundam or something?

Dec 26, 2007 10:18 PM by UltraTien

Well it seems like a good idea to me, understanding and swapping different ideas and ideals almost always lead to progress. Guess its good for business too, so yeah they'll probably earn that money back on the longer term.

Dec 26, 2007 4:21 PM by Lofoc

Yuunagi said:
For some reason, the name "Lucy Monostone" popped into my head.

Thats creepy the name poped into my head aswell...

Dec 26, 2007 3:49 PM by nicolasnzl

That's one expensive joke...

Dec 26, 2007 3:04 PM by asandari

d388 said:
(edit: hungarian anime dubs are even worse than english anime dubs.. they are biased towards the 4-10year old audience and more childish than for example.. Winnie the Pooh or Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles... I hope one of these teachers is going to kick some japanese-> hungarian translator/dubber ass, because we seriously need that)

Well that's sooo true. But I don't think they will do it, and it actually depends on the person who directs the dubs... We have to wait at least 4-5 years till anime fan directors will work for Animax lol :D

Anyway I wonder who they will do this spreading of "anime, manga, and other elements of Japanese popular culture". Will there be japanese language courses? Will they come to our SakuraCon? Will they give us some free manga? Not that we will understand it in japanese tough :D

Dec 26, 2007 12:41 PM by SunyiNyufi

Brian333 said:
Otaku are the pride of Japanese culture!

this world needs more patricia-sans.

QFT

now they need to come to MY school

Dec 26, 2007 12:10 PM by Xjellocross

I wonder what the other three countries are ^^

Dec 26, 2007 11:51 AM by Monita

I hope it'll work... Too bad it's only Eastern Europe, they should visit the Netherlands... I wonder how the people in Japan will react about this, since it seems a bit weird to me xD It'd be cool if anime became more popular at some points though ^^

Dec 26, 2007 11:47 AM by DragonsWhip

sounds like an okay idea maybe it'll work/ help/ fail?.....

Dec 26, 2007 11:35 AM by Shiroi_Kane

Hmm, I live in Hungary, but I haven't heard about this yet. I'm pretty sure if the media eats it and these.. japanese pop culture teachers succeed they profit a lot from it in many ways.
(edit: hungarian anime dubs are even worse than english anime dubs.. they are biased towards the 4-10year old audience and more childish than for example.. Winnie the Pooh or Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles... I hope one of these teachers is going to kick some japanese-> hungarian translator/dubber ass, because we seriously need that)

Dec 26, 2007 10:16 AM by d388

Wow, they are really coming to us? :D lol :D Not that we in Hungary should really need it I think, aspecially now that we have some mangas and anime in Hungarian :)

Dec 26, 2007 8:05 AM by SunyiNyufi

Otaku are the pride of Japanese culture!

this world needs more patricia-sans.

Dec 26, 2007 5:02 AM by removed-user

Damn how cool it could be to have a Japanese teacher interrupt your class and start talking about manga and anime...

Tough I'm not sure it will result in more fans... unless they show samples

Ah well, pretty cool even tough it might be smarter to let anime and manga do their own promotion or at least let some corporations sponsor you

Dec 26, 2007 4:30 AM by Toost_Inc

Lmao...Oh Japan...They always think of these crazy ideas...

Dec 26, 2007 2:32 AM by Phrosh

For some reason, the name "Lucy Monostone" popped into my head.

Dec 25, 2007 11:36 PM by Yuunagi

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