Passengers on Korean Air flights this month can read my article on Seika University’s Manga Faculty, in the inflight magazine Morning Calm.
I visited Seika’s Manga Faculty in late September and found a truly unique university department with top-class teachers from all parts of the manga industry. Teachers at Seika inspire their students with an open and collaborative attitude to education and an emphasis on personal development. As Faculty head Yoshimura Kazuma told me, “Rather than teaching we prefer that students and teachers discuss, consider and learn together. And rather than trying to find one correct answer to a problem, we prefer to discover through dialogue that there can be many possible answers and choices available. To debate these things is very important.”
“The most enjoyable thing is the freedom, being able to do what I want without criticism. The school accepts and encourages everyone’s individuality and self-expression. I think this is what makes Seika different from other Universities.” - Korean student Kim Eunji
I interviewed several students and teachers at Seika, enough for a much longer article, and a lot of what I wrote (necessarily) got cut, but I’m glad all the interviewees got some representation in the finished piece. You can check out the full article online from page 72. Check out also the great photography of my partner on this project Mr. Paul Crouse! http://morningcalm.koreanair.com/