#Japan Art Academy Opens Membership to Manga Artists, Ashita no Joe Creator Tetsuya Chiba Joins the Ranks

One of the highest art bodies in Japan, the Japan Art Academy, a government-adjacent organization that advises the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology on art-related topics and runs high-level exhibitions in the country, has for the first time inducted two manga artists into their ranks. Of the nine people that were chosen to be members in this year’s round of inductees, Ashita no Joe (also known as Champion Joe and Tomorrow’s Joe) creator Tetsuya Chiba and Screw Style creator Yoshiharu Tsuge join the ranks of the exclusive club.

The Japan Art Academy only allows 120 members into its ranks at any one time, though there are currently only 103 members, with membership given to the creator for life. The Academy was created by the Japanese government in 1907 to create a standards body for art exhibitions and traditional performances in Meiji Era Japan. After a short stint of the art academy being transformed into the Imperial Fine Arts Academy during Japan’s imperial times, during the American occupation of Japan, the academy was transformed into what it is today; a body of high profile artists in traditional Japanese arts, film, and literacy sectors who advise the government on art-related matters and run an annual exhibition.

Changes were made to the organizational and nominations structure this year to keep the academy relevant to modern arts. The selection criteria were changed for the inclusion of 2021 members to allow outside experts appointed by the Ministry of Culture to recommend new members. Previously, only current members could appoint new members, which allowed friends of the current membership to be given priority. This change also brought in a “manga” category, and shuffled around existing categories, changing “drama” to “film.”

 

Ashita no Joe creator Tetsuya Chiba is said to have been “the biggest contributor to the rise of sports manga” and is currently the president of the Japan Cartoonists Association. Yoshiharu Tsuge, who is best known in the west as the creator of Screw Style, was a pioneer of the gekiga manga style, which transformed the landscape of manga in the 1950s and 1960s.

Source: Nikkan Sports

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Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.