Organized by Taiwan Cultural Center in Tokyo, a traveling exhibition titled "Manga's Bond (漫画の絆)" featuring 288 comic artworks that represent the friendship between Taiwan and Japan commenced on April 8 in Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture, following the successful first stop at the Books Kinokuniya (Shinjuku Main Store) in Tokyo. The exhibition will conclude on April 16.
During the opening ceremony, Taiwan's Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) stated that it is a great honor for Taiwan to be able to contribute to the reconstruction efforts in Otsuchi Town and assist disaster victims in rebuilding their homes. Mayor of Otsuchi Kozo Hirano (平野公三) also expressed his sincere gratitude to Taiwan. Distinguished guests and participants were shown a documentary film at the ceremony and they were moved by the scenes of the artworks touring various places across Taiwan in 2021.
Taiwanese comic artists Cory Ko (柯宥希), Ponjea (彭傑), and Ruan Guang-min (阮光民) attended the opening ceremony and engaged in a dialogue with Japanese senior voice actor Shimada Bin (島田敏) and actress Yamaguchi Yuriko (山口由里子). Their conversation revolved around their respective creative experiences and thought processes in interpreting their roles.
Ko and Ponjea mentioned that they had previously featured Japanese high school students as the characters in their comic stories, however, they had never been to the campus of a Japanese school until the day before the exhibition’s opening when they first visited the Iwate Prefectural Otsuchi High School. They hope to turn these valuable experiences into new creative sources for future works.
Additionally, the Taiwanese artists created comic artworks with their signatures on-site based on the theme of Otsuchi Town. Ruan Guang-min depicted a scene in which a character from his work, Yong-Jiu Grocery Store (用九柑仔店), delivers goods to Kirikiri Nursery School. The school, rebuilt with the aid of Taiwan, was one of the locations that the artists visited during their trip. In addition, Ponjea personified “Oochan,” the mascot of Otsuchi town, as an adorable girl, with Houraisan (蓬莱山) landscape in the background.
Otsuchi, a town located along the coastline of Iwate Prefecture, suffered extensive damage from the 311 Great East Japan Earthquake in 2021, but now has been successfully revived. To thank Taiwan for its support, Otsuchi town has been actively engaging in people-to-people exchange in recent years.