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Asteroid Named After Manga Creator Jiro Taniguchi
posted on by Egan Loo
The saji Astro Park observatory in Tottori City announced on Friday that it named a minor planet — an asteroid discovered in 2000 — after manga creator and Tottori native Jiro Taniguchi. The naming honors Taniguchi for receiving the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) decoration from France last year.
The asteroid "Taniguchijiro" is located between Mars and Jupiter in the Asteroid Belt. saji Astro Park proposed the name to the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center last September, and the center approved the name in February.
The park has so far discovered 20 minor planets. It has named the other minor planets after landmarks and features of Tottori, such as the "Daisakyu" hill.
Fanfare / Ponent Mon has published such Taniguchi works as The Walking Man, The Ice Wanderer, and A Distant Neighborhood in English, and these three particular titles have been nominated for America's Eisner Awards. Viz also published his Benkei in New York manga.
A live-action film adaptation of A Distant Neighborhood (Harukana Machi e/Quartier Lointain) was produced in Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Germany in 2010.
Source: Nikkan Sports via Hachima Kikō, 47News
