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Manga Creators Volunteer in Japan's Quake Area

Manga creators Sensha Yoshida (Utsurun Desu.) and Kotobuki Shiriagari (AX, Jacaranda) gave volunteer art lessons at the Higashi Middle School in the city of Kamaishi in tsunami-devastated Iwate Prefecture on Thursday. The artists came to help cheer up the students after the March 11 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake (Higashi Nihon Daishinsai) disaster. The school's entire student body, which has almost 180 students, attended the classes taught by Yoshida, Shiragari, and about 15 editors.

The students drew front covers for manga books and filled in pages for four-panel manga during the class. While Yoshida was helping the students, he also finished drawing a page for an ongoing manga of his.

About 70 percent of the students in the school had their homes damaged in the disaster, and about half of the students still commute to school from refuge shelters. Nevertheless, the school resumed classes in April.

Yoshida himself (pictured at right) is from Iwate Prefecture, and said, "I was worried, but fortunately the children seemed energetic. I want to convey to them that there are many adults who want to be of help." On Friday, the authors and editors helped to clear rubble in the city, and on Saturday, they will hold a charity event in a nearby city within the prefecture.

Source: 47 News