TOTTORI -- The Tottori prefectural government recently began soliciting entries for a manga contest exclusively for residents of Taiwan, following the prefecture's conclusion of a friendship exchange agreement with Taichung city in early November.
In Taiwan, Japanese anime are extremely popular, with "Detective Conan" and other series broadcast on television.
International charter flights operating between Tottori and Taiwan through early December are also enhancing ties between the two.
Taking advantage of these favorable circumstances, the prefectural government aims to lure more tourists to Tottori by using manga to boost recognition of the prefecture.
The ongoing contest was launched to commemorate the friendship agreement, and is a Taiwan-focused version of an international manga contest the prefectural government launched in fiscal 2012 to unearth talented manga artists.
Categories for the contest include single-frame and four-frame manga. Previous each contest has attracted between 400 to 700 entries, with 20 to 45 percent coming from overseas.
Thus far, 154 submissions have come from Taiwan, the second most from a foreign country behind Russia.
A contestant from Taiwan won the top award in fiscal 2012 and went on to debut as a professional manga artist in Taiwan.
According to the prefectural government's Manga Kingdom Secretariat in charge of the contests, people from Taiwan are highly interested in Japanese anime, and many submissions from Taiwan are of high quality.
Tottori Prefecture and Taiwan also have strong ties when it comes to tourism.
Among foreign nationals who stayed overnight in the prefecture last year, 16,190 were from Taiwan, the third-largest total behind South Korea and Hong Kong, which operate regular international flights to and from the prefecture.
Osamu Ebara, head of the secretariat, said, "If we promote Tottori Prefecture to Taiwan using manga, it could be very effective in attracting more tourists."
With this in mind, the prefecture decided to limit the current contest to applicants from Taiwan, the first time the contest has been country-specific. Submissions will be accepted until Jan. 10 next year.
The friendship exchange agreement with Taichung was concluded on Nov. 2, when Tottori Gov. Shinji Hirai visited the city and met with Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-Lung.
The prefecture has continued exchange programs with Taichung since 1997, when it exported pear grafts to the city. With the friendship exchange agreement, the prefectural government aims to deepen the cooperative relationship in such fields as manga, tourism and sales of local specialty products.
The chartered flights made four round trips between Tottori and Taichung from Nov. 1 to 11, and are scheduled to make seven round trips between Tottori and Taipei from Nov. 11 to Dec. 5. At least 1,150 people are expected to use the flights.
"By utilizing the popularity of 'Detective Conan,' I want to lure a large number of tourists from Taiwan to Tottori Prefecture," Hirai said, expressing his expectations. "In the future, I hope regular flights will be operated following those to and from Seoul and Hong Kong."
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