Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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Watch Part 2 here: youtube.com/live/FY_mH3t7E70?feature=share

Join us for a special international symposium exploring manga as an art form, held in conjunction with the Art of Manga exhibition. This dynamic gathering brings together leading artists, editors, and scholars from Japan and beyond to delve into the cultural, artistic, and narrative power of manga. Through conversations and presentations, the symposium will highlight manga’s evolution as a global visual language and its recognition as a serious art form.

[1:43:00] Imaizumi Ippyo image owned by the Keio University Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies

About the exhibition: famsf.org/exhibitions/art-of-manga

Symposium Schedule
Part 1: 11 am–1 pm

Creating Manga: A Conversation with Artist Yamashita Kazumi

Introductions by Ishihara Takeshi, Deputy Consul General of the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco; Horiuchi Marue, senior advisor for Shueisha Inc; and Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, curator of Art of Manga and professor at Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, UEA
Yamashita Kazumi in conversation with her editor Komatsu Yuma and curator Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere on creating LAND and Wonder Boy
Masuzawa Yoshikazu, Shueisha editor, will discuss To Live in the Oldest Western Style House in Setagaya and the creation of the Theodora Ozaki-tei manga resource and display initiative

Manga in San Francisco in 1900s: A Presentation by Fred Schodt on The Four Immigrants Manga, Followed by a Response from Ito Yu
Fred Schodt, American translator, interpreter, and writer, Ito Yu, professor at Kyoto Seika University International Manga Research Center, and Art of Manga curator Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere

Part 2: 2–4 pm
Futures for the Art of Manga
Introduction by Art of Manga curator Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere
Oishi Takashi, director of Yokote Masuda Manga Museum and CEO of the Manga Archive Center
Ito Yu, professor at Kyoto Seika University International Manga Research Center
Manga as Art Panel Discussion: Curating and Conserving Manga for the Future, with speakers Cyntia Karnes, FAMSF conservator; Justin Hall, California College of the Arts professor; Ito Yu, Kyoto Seika University International Manga Research Center professor; Masuzawa Yoshikazu, Shueisha editor; and Oishi Takashi, Yokote Masuda Manga Museum director; moderated by Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, Art of Manga exhibition curator

Participants, in order of appearance
Ishihara Takeshi, Deputy Consul General of the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco
Horiuchi Marue, senior advisor for Shueisha, former editor of manga
Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, curator of Art of Manga and professor at Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, UEA
Yamashita Kazumi, manga artist, winner of the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize for LAND in 2021
Komatsu Yuma, Kodansha editor
Masuzawa Yoshikazu, Shueisha editor
Fred Schodt, researcher, scholar, translator, and author of multiple books including The Four Immigrants Manga: A Japanese Experience in San Francisco, 1904–1924 (1999)
Ito Yu, professor at Kyoto Seika University International Manga Research Center
Oishi Takashi, director of the Yokote Masuda Manga Museum and CEO of the Manga Archive Organization
Cyntia Karnes, head of paper conservation, FAMSF
Justin Hall, professor of comics, California College of the Arts
Hokamura Gen, translator
Karahashi Takayuki, translator
Mori Chiyo, translator