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Japanese Minister to French Presidential Hopeful: "Read More Manga"
posted on by Mikhail Koulikov
During a Friday, April 20 press conference, Taro Aso, the head of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, urged French presidential candidate Segolene Royal to reconsider her harsh views of Japanese comics and "read a little bit more" manga. Her 1989 book Le Ras-le-bol des bébés zappeurs ("The Dissatisfaction of the Channel-Flipping Generation") criticized Japanese society for what she perceived to be a high degree of tolerance for expressions of violence and pornography in popular culture. Aso replied that manga features a variety of story lines, and should not be stereotyped.
In the first round of the elections, held on Sunday, April 22, Royal came in second, and will move to the May 6 run-off against first-place candidate Nicolas Sarkozy. Aso's ministry released an educational pamphlet featuring original Detective Conan manga art earlier this month.
Source: Japan Times
