Osamu Tezuka exhibit added to Google Cultural Institute

[Shiyonasan]

Okay, this is pretty cool. Appropriate that it was uploaded on April 7.

You can access the archive by clicking this link.

Sources: The Asahi Shimbun, Comic Book Resources

Tezuka collection added to Google historical archives

Tezuka collection added to Google historical archives
April 08, 2014

By YUTAKA SUZUKI/ Staff Writer

Images, videos and other materials related to “Astro Boy” creator Osamu Tezuka are now part of the Google Cultural Institute’s historical archives, making him the first manga artist to be featured on the website.

The collection was added on April 7 to the “Cultural Figures” section of the search engine giant’s online resource, which contains historical materials of the 20th century.

The release date coincided with the fictional birthday of Astro Boy, the main character in one of Tezuka’s most popular comics. A commemoration ceremony was held at the Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, to celebrate the occasion.

“Tezuka repeatedly expressed his opposition to war and discrimination and emphasized the preciousness of life through his works,” said Yoshihiro Shimizu, chief of the copyright business division of Tokyo-based Tezuka Productions.

“I am happy that information concerning Tezuka is spread around the globe (through the site) and his ideas are shared.”

The collection, which consists of 172 materials such as images, videos and written texts owned by Tezuka Productions, is organized chronologically by release dates. Descriptions of the materials are available in English. The website includes information about the Tezuka museum as well.

Tezuka Productions is also considering posting the managa artist’s war experiences and messages he wanted to pass down to future generations.

The Google Cultural Institute’s historical archives feature more than 6 million materials in collaboration with 40 organizations in 14 countries, including memorial halls.

It already contains materials owned by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and those by the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, in addition to information related to the Holocaust during World War ll, apartheid in South Africa, and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Tezuka’s collection can be found on the Google Cultural Institute’s website.

If any of you ever wanted to go to the Tezuka museum, you can do a Google Street View of the museum in the archive.

[Earthshine]

That's so cool and a wonderful achievement.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Tezuka productions has uploaded video clips to youtube that were referenced in the google page:

https://www.youtube.com/user/tezukaproductions