Aso calls for manga world 'Nobel Prize'
Crisscross News--Saturday, April 29, 2006 at 06:53 EDT
TOKYO -- Foreign Minister Taro Aso on Friday called for the creation of the manga world's equivalent of a Nobel Prize for up-and-coming non-Japanese manga artists as a way to boost the country's diplomacy through pop culture. "I would like Japan, as the origin of manga, to give these rising artists an award equivalent to the Nobel Prize. In that way, they would feel a connection with Japan,"...more....