One of Geneseo’s first international students, Akiko Shimojima ’00, recently earned a bronze award at the 10th Japan International manga Awards for her work as co-author of the book, “Secrets of the Ninja.” manga, a Japanese style of comic created in the late 19th century, is popular across a broad range of ages in Japan. Hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, the award recognizes authors whose manga comics reach overseas and help to expand manga culture internationally.
Shimojima, a psychology major, shared the good news by emailing her former psychology professor, Kenneth Kallio, currently associate provost for personnel and diversity.
Collaborating with Sean Michael Wilson, an award-winning author of more than a dozen graphic novels and comics, Shimojima created the artwork for the entire novel. “Secrets of the Ninja” is historically accurate and tells the story of Nagata Saburo who is teaching his son, Hisaaki, about the secret tactics, weapons, and values of the ninja.
“It was very hard to work on this book because I needed to research more than usual,” said Shimojima. “Lots of things were very difficult to draw, and the writer and the adviser disagreed with each other about the story.” In the end, however, the book was a huge success and a great accomplishment for her.
Shimojima is a comic and manga artist who currently lives in Tokyo. She teaches digital arts at a school in Tokyo and has created the artistic work for a number of other manga novels, including “47 Ronin,” “Cold Mountain” and “Bushido.”
— By Genna Amick ’18, Academic Affairs communications intern