Kyoto Seika University, the only university in the nation with a faculty dedicated to manga studies, has been inundated with orders from local governments, private firms and other organizations to produce informational materials illustrated in the style of comic books.
In the past five years, the university has received 100 such requests for materials as varied as a primary school teaching aid for traditional handicrafts and a pamphlet publicizing flood control measures taken by the Construction and Transport Ministry.
The orders have created tens of millions of yen in income for the university.
Created by students or recent graduates of the university, the illustrated materials are popular because they are easy to read and can express an abundance of information in picture form.
The university, in Sakyo Ward, Kyoto, says the business orders provide a golden opportunity to nurture fledgling artists, helping students gain work experience and develop professional portfolios.
The business niche was discovered in 2003, when a municipal government asked cartoonist Keiko Takemiya, a professor of the university, to produce a commemorative magazine in a manga style. Subsequent to that first order, requests for the university's services grew through word of mouth.
When an order is received, the university allocates it to a student or a graduate, who then gathers research material and plans and illustrates the graphic document.
Materials used by the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, which offers the manga-styled explanatory pamphlets to stroke victims and their families, account for two of the 20 orders the manga department received in the 2007 academic year, ending this month.
Hiroyasu Sasajima, associate professor of the university's department of neurosurgery, said the manga format helps people quickly understand health problems and treatment methods, adding that it can also alleviate the mental shock suffered by patients and their families.
Another contract undertaken by the university, commissioned by the Japan External Trade Organization's Osaka headquarters, was for a four-volume manual aimed at small and midsize firms wishing to expand into overseas markets.
A JETRO official reported receiving e-mails and letters from people who said they had gained a deeper understanding of the subject from reading the manga-styled manuals.