Since 2007, the Embassy of Japan in the UK has organised Manga Jiman, a competition to find and promote aspiring comic creators. This year’s winners will be announced online, for the first time. Tune in to watch the winning artists share their stories and competition judges give their expert insights.

As part of this event, Dr Simon Grennan, Leading Research Fellow at the University of Chester and an artist in his own right, will give a talk entitled 'Yonkoma: the subtle and surprising art of stories that are hard to tell'. Dr Grennan worked with a number of dementia carers to tell the touching stories of real-life care situations through the medium of yonkoma, a form of comic strip which tells a story in just four panels.

The two strands of the Embassy’s competition require artists to tell their stories in a restricted format; six to eight pages for entrants to Manga Jiman and four panels on one page for entrants to Yonkoma. Viewers to this event will learn tips on how to tell a comic story within a specified limit.

To register, click here (opens to registration page on Zoom)

For further updates on the competition visit:

1. Official website
2. Facebook
3. Twitter
4. Instagram