The controversial National Media Arts Center, aka the Anime Hall of fame that has been scrapped by The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology after DPJ’s rise to power in the Japan parliment last month has now been given a new lease of life after a new proposal was planned to replace it with a more cheaper, sustainable solution.

Under the new proposal, the government are looking to pool the resources of 16 research institutions and other facilities to collect and display works as well as conduct research. Compared to the old proposal that would have needed them to build a new facility altogether and cost them around 11.7 billion yen (US$132 million), the new project will now involves cooperation of media institutions in the European Union (EU) and cost only 250 million yen (about US$2.3 million). 25 million yen (US$280,000) would go towards the annual rental fees and operating expenses of the different facilities.

The planned joint venture will deal with five main fields: anime, manga, films, games, and “media arts.” Among the 16 universities and organizations that will contribute to the effort are three from Australia and the EU. Instead of building an entirely new facility, the propose will utilize existing ones. For example, the Kyoto International Manga Museum and other institutions could display works, while the Tokyo Anime Center in the Akihabara otaku shopping district and similar locales could disseminate information.

During an August conference that the ministry held for the previous proposal, manga creator Machiko Satonaka (Lady Ann) warned that without proper preservation, the severe deterioation of old manga will make them unreadable in a century.

The institutions involved in the proposal are as follows:

Games:

* Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (research)

Anime:

* Tokyo University of the Arts (research, training)
* Suginami Animation Museum (exhibitions)
* Tokyo Anime Center (information dissemination)

Manga:

* Kyoto International Manga Museum (exhibitions)
* Meiji University (research, exhibition)

International institutions (research, exhibitions):

* Australia
* Germany
* The Netherlands

Media arts which use CG and other advanced techniques:

* Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (exhibitions)
* Tokyo University (research, training)

Films:

* The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo’s Film Center (preservation, restoration)
* Nihon University (research, training)

Source: Yomiuri and ANN