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Asahi Shimbun
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Asahi Shimbun
Over 12,000 musicians break Guinness World Record at expo
OSAKA—Musicians from around the country played 'The Stars and Stripes Forever' while marching on the Grand Ring and other areas of the Osaka Kansai Expo to break a world record. The 12,269 participants at the May 11 spectacle earned the Guinness World Records' title of 'largest marching band,' surpassing the previous record set in 1997 of 11,157 people. The event was held as part of the Brass Expo 2025, a brass band festival sponsored by Kansai Suisogaku Renmei (Kansai band federation), The Asahi Shimbun Co. and Ad:Daisen Co. 'I am overwhelmed by a sense of fulfillment,' said Rio Nakamura, leader of the brass band club at Matsuyama Shinonome Junior and Senior High School in Ehime Prefecture. Thirty-three people from the school, including alumni and guardians, took part. 'This is the first time I played with so many people,' Nakamura said. 'I was thrilled even after the performance ended.' In addition to sheer numbers, the group had to meet Guinness World Records requirements that included 'marching 400 meters or more with all participants playing' and 'performing for five minutes or longer.' Daisuke Ataka, 42, joined with about 40 other members of a brass band based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. 'I became relaxed while playing, and I could afford to enjoy the sights of the expo that I was seeing for the first time,' said Ataka, an alto saxophonist. 'I was also glad to see children happily playing on percussion instruments.' Most of the assembled schools and amateur bands have participated in the All Japan Marching Contest.
Asahi Shimbun
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Asahi Shimbun
Rintaro wins top prize at Tezuka Osamu manga awards
An illustration drawn by Rintaro to mark his winning of the Manga Grand Prix at the 29th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, left, and the cover illustration for his winning title, 'Ichi-byo Nijuyon-koma no Boku no Jinsei' (Provided by Rintaro and Kawade Shobo Shinsha Ltd.) 'Ichi-byo Nijuyon-koma no Boku no Jinsei' (My life at 24 frames per second), an autobiographical manga by famed anime director Rintaro, won the Manga Grand Prix at the 29th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. Sponsored by The Asahi Shimbun Co., the competition honors 'Astro Boy' creator Osamu Tezuka and the indelible mark he left on Japan's manga culture. The logo of the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize featuring Atom, the main character of 'Astro Boy' ((c) Tezuka Productions) The Originality Prize, given for fresh talent and novel modes of expression, went to Shiho Kido, who authored 'When the Chameleon Flowers Bloom.' The Short Story Prize was given to Shunji Enomoto's 'The Kinks.' The Asahi Special Prize went to the Yokote City Masuda Manga Art Foundation, a general incorporated association that operates the Yokote Masuda Manga Museum in Yokote, Akita Prefecture. The awards ceremony will be held at the leading daily's Tokyo head office in the Tsukiji area on June 5. Each winner will receive a bronze statuette. The winner of the Manga Grand Prix will also take home a 2-million-yen ($14,000) prize, while the Originality, Short Story and Asahi Special Prize winners will each receive 1 million yen. Manga titles published or released in Japan in 2024 were eligible for the awards. Rintaro is an anime director who has movies such as 'Galaxy Express 999,' 'Genma Taisen (Harmagedon)' and 'Metropolis' under his belt. After working on a Japan-France joint project, he was approached to make an autobiographical anime in the European country. After six years in the making, it came to fruition as a manga originally released by a publisher in the French-speaking world under the title of 'Ma Vie en 24 Images par Second' (My life at 24 frames per second). The Japanese edition was published by Kawade Shobo Shinsha Ltd. 'I decided to take on the project thinking that nothing could scare me, but when I started working on it, I remembered various scenes of my life like a revolving lantern of memories,' Rintaro said. 'It was a fun experience.' After starting out as an animator, Rintaro made a career switch to become a director while working on 'Astro Boy,' Japan's first animated TV series, which aired in 1963 and featured a robot boy named Atom. 'Mr. Tezuka was a great manga artist, but for me, he was the chief who worked together with staff members on 'Astro Boy' without sleep,' he recalled. 'When the Chameleon Flowers Bloom' is Kido's first series published by Kodansha Ltd. It portrays creators of 'art brut' (raw art), or art made outside the mainstream forms of expression, and their supporters through a peculiar relationship between two elementary school pupils, one being a model student and the other an eccentric one. Also released by Kodansha, 'The Kinks' is the first family-centered comedy series for Enomoto, whose works are filled with 'erotic, grotesque and nonsensical' elements. The Yokote City Masuda Manga Art Foundation is among the first to conserve manga manuscripts to pass down the manga culture to future generations. Opening in 1995, the Yokote Masuda Manga Museum currently houses more than 480,000 original drawings. (This story was written by Atsushi Ohara and Takumi Terui.)
