Japan’s manga industry faces a ‘#MeToo moment’ after Shogakukan scandal
Prominent creators pull their work as the publisher launches a probe into how a convicted author returned under a pen name
The controversy has prompted some observers to ask whether Japan’s manga industry is experiencing a belated “#MeToo moment”, as prominent creators pull their works from the publisher’s Manga One digital platform in protest.
Tokyo-based Shogakukan said on Tuesday it would set up a third-party panel to examine how senior staff approved the publication of new work by the author while concealing his identity behind a pen name.
According to a statement on the publisher’s website, Shoichi Yamamoto, author of the Operation Fallen Angel manga series, was arrested in February 2020 on suspicion of violating Japan’s Child Prostitution and Child Pornography Prohibition Act while working as an art teacher in Sapporo.
The company said it immediately suspended serialisation of the title.
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Yamamoto was later found guilty of repeatedly assaulting a 15-year-old girl and, on February 20, was ordered by the Sapporo Supreme Court to pay 11 million yen (US$70,000) in damages to his victim.