Artifacts from Japan, part 4: Miyajima Misen Story manga
Posted: July 30, 2016 Filed under: review | Tags: comics, Hitomi, Japan, manga, Miyajima, Miyajima Misen Story, publishing, Yatarō Ichimonji 2 Comments
This 14,6 × 21 cm, 15-page manga leaflet is available for free at the ropeway station on Miyajima island. It’s the third part of a four-part story, but from what I gather, the manga is about a girl named Aki who visits several sights on Miyajima and runs into supernatural beings. Time travel might also play a role – the Japanese title on the cover says, 弥山へ。。。時の旅人, “time traveller to Misen” (Mt. Misen is the mountain on Miyajima to which the ropeway goes).
Compared to regular, professional manga, the artwork might be a bit amateurish, but it’s still significantly better than what you would expect from what is essentially an advertisement comic issued by the Miyajima Ropeway company and created by locals from Hiroshima (writer: Yatarō Ichimonji, artist: Hitomi).
The four manga chapters are also available from the Miyajima Ropeway website as PDF files (Japanese only): part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4
The 650-Cent Plague 
I used to work in Hiroshima and remember visiting Miyajima. (Didn’t ever see any comic giveaways, though.) Sadly, it’s being reported that Yatarō Ichimonji passed away the other day.
Thank you for letting us know. Apparently he died from Covid, no less. From what I gather, his main occupation was hosting a radio show, right?