Third International MANGA Award

Special Award

Frederik L. Schodt
Assessing the Contribution to the Popularization of Japanese Manga overseas

Born in the United States of America in 1950, Frederik L. Schodt is active in many areas, including as a non-fiction writer, translator, and interpreter.

Mr. Schodt discovered manga as an exchange student in Japan, where he interacted with Osamu Tezuka. He subsequently began translating Tezuka's manga and a large number of other famous Japanese manga into English, introducing manga to readers in the English-speaking world. He has also authored books and columns, and given lectures, in which he analyzes and introduces Japanese manga to English speakers. Among these, his book Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics, which discusses the historical and cultural background of Japanese manga, is still considered a must-read among anime and manga enthusiasts in the United States.

Mr. Schodt won the Special Award at the Japan Cartoonists Association's 2nd Manga Oscar Awards in 1983. In 2000, the Asahi Shimbun awarded him with the Special Award in its 4th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize for his broad contribution to the appreciation of Japanese manga outside Japan. In spring 2009, the Government of Japan conferred on him the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette for his contribution of introduction and diffusion of Japanese manga to the World.