Japan's animation efforts and pride continue

Japan's animation efforts and pride continue. September. 22, 2016 07:33. by 고미석기자 mskoh119@donga.com.

The bus station at a rural village near the Nagano Prefecture town of Ueda in Japan is full of tourists taking pictures. It appears to have nothing special, but many people visit the place because it was used as a background scene of move Summer Wars directed by Hosoda Mamoru, next generation animation movie star director in Japan. Following the release of the movie, the area has become a famous tourist area where comic fans flock into.

　

“The Spiriting Away Of Sen And Chihiro” of world-renowned Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki won the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards. It is a story about a girl's adventure who works at a hot spring where various gods come, in order to save her parents who have turned to pigs while moving to this place. The background motif of the movie comes from Edo Tokyo Tatemonoen in Koganei, Tokyo. This place has become a must-visit course for cartoon mania as it is an outside museum where historical constructions are preserved and exhibited.

In Korea, Nami Island in Chuncheon has become a famous tourist attraction site for foreigners thanks to hit TV drama "Autumn's Tale." While in the past tourists went to scenic spots and places of historic interest, now places that are background for movies and dramas are getting the spotlight. Japan is moving swiftly taking advantage of its strength in animation. Japan recently established the Animation Tourism Association to attract foreign tourists to places that were background of animations and movies. Japan will gather candidate places through online and in other ways until the year-end to select 88 places as animation spots.

The purpose of this association is to link these 88 places nationwide to develop new tourist products. Specifically, it will publicize background places in animation movies as holy lands and attract related companies including Japan Airlines, Narita Airport and travel agencies. It has made efforts to attract manias through Ghibli Museum that materializes comic production sites and theme parks where Weekly Shonen Jump characters are used. Japan's faces drawn in animations have succeeded in being loved by international people. Korea should also ponder on what face it will make, and make plans for creative tourism.