"Aaaattenti"
Ecco qui Hisahito, il futuro Imperatore del Sol
Levante, assieme ad i suoi genitori nella residenza
imperiale di Takenezawa in visita ai nonni.
Come impone il rigido protocollo all'arrivo sono
stati salutati da tutti i dipendenti di Palazzo.
La gravidanza della principessa Kiko, madre di
Hisahito, fu una sorta di suggerimento
governativo-imperiale nella speranza che potesse dare
alla luce un maschio, per scongiurare ogni
probabilita' di riforma della costituzione giapponese
che rendesse possibile l'ascesa al trono della
principessa Aiko.
Alla faccia di chi pensa che le donne siano
importanti!
Manga Artists

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.