This lecture (in English) will be held Wednesday, May 22 at 7:00 at Lakeland University in Shinjuku.



"No Nukes for Dinner: Katsumata Susumu's Anti-Nuclear Manga", presented by Prof. Ryan Holmberg



Susumu Katsumata (1943-2007) has the curious distinction of having risen within the world of political cartooning and literary comics while studying toward a graduate degree in nuclear physics in Tokyo. While best known for his stories about life and myth in the Japanese countryside, Katsumata also drew frequently about political and social issues, including numerous satirical strips about nuclear arms. After the anti-nuclear power movement came together in Japan in the late 1970s, Katsumata began illustrating critical science books about the history and dangers of nuclear power. This lecture will survey Katsumata's work on the subject of nuclear power, which is the largest and most diverse in Japanese visual art prior to the 2011 meltdowns in Fukushima. The talk focuses on two publications, a collection of Katsumata's manga titled Fukushima Devil Fish (Breakdown Press) and the forthcoming No Nukes for Dinner: How One Japanese Cartoonist and His Country Learned to Distrust the Atom.



Ryan Holmberg is a Visiting Associate Professor at University of Tokyo. As a freelance art historian and critic, he is a frequent contributor to The Comics Journal, Artforum International, and Art in America. As an editor and translator of manga, he has worked with Breakdown Press, Drawn & Quarterly, Retrofit Comics, PictureBox Inc, and New York Review Comics. He is also the author of Garo Manga: The First Decade, 1964-1973 (Center for Book Arts, 2010) and the aforementioned No Nukes for Dinner (forthcoming).



For a map and directions to Lakeland's Shinjuku Campus, see our website:

http://luj.lakeland.edu/Campus-Life/lakeland-lectures



Lakeland Lectures are a forum for researchers, students and members of the public to discuss contemporary issues affecting Japan. Lakeland University has offered a U.S.-accredited liberal arts program in Tokyo since 1991. Lakeland's main campus is in Wisconsin, USA and was founded in 1862.