Opinion Brain drain By Matthew A. Thorn	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
韓国マンガ界の頭脳流出 韓国の若い有能なマンガ家が日本に流出している。 この流れを食い止めるためには著作権法を改正し、 彼らが国内で生活できる環境を整える必要がある。

Since the Comic Art Department of Kyoto Seika University opened its doors in April 2000, the majority of our international students have been Korean. This is not surprising, considering that Korea is Japan's closest neighbor, and that linguistic similarities make it generally easier for Koreans to learn Japanese.

What is striking, though, is the fact that the overall level of Korean applicants has been steadily rising each year. In fact, some of our applicants are adults in their late 20s or early 30s who have actually worked in Korea as professional cartoonists or illustrators. The question is, why are these talented young people coming to Kyoto, instead of staying in Korea?

In the wake of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout of Korea's shattered economy in 1997, the government made changes in the law to encourage the creation of "mom and pop" small businesses. Among the most successful of these small businesses have been comics rental shops, where customers can rent comics for a very low fee.

Unfortunately, these shops have flourished like rabbits in the Outback, and have had a devastating effect on Korea's comics community. While there are probably more Koreans reading comics today than there ever have been, few of them are actually buying them. A book read by hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Koreans, will sell only a few thousand copies. In other words, through comics rental shops, a single copy of a comic will be read by hundreds of people, and neither artist nor publisher makes a single won because of poor sales.

To make things worse, working conditions for most Korean cartoonists are as bad as they were for American comic-book creators during the 1930s and 1940s. The artist works for a basic page rate, and the copyrights belong to the publisher. Even if they are given royalties, the royalties are low, and sales are low because of the rental shop phenomenon.

Japan calls to Korean cartoonists in the same way that Hollywood calls to filmmakers from around the world. Chances of success here are slim, but the potential rewards are more than artists working in Korea could dream of.

I wonder: If enough of my Korean students go on to succeed in Japan, will the Korean government finally take note of this "brain drain," and make the changes to copyright laws that will allow cartoonists to make a decent living in their own country? If they do, Seika University and Japan may lose out, but Koreans will gain a truly vital comics community that can reach out to comics lovers around the world.

Shukan ST: Jan. 21, 2005

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