Under the fine-sounding name Nichiman- doku (Nichi = Japan, Man = Manga, Doku = Germany) the Japanese manga artist Mat- suoka Waka and the German comic artist Dirk Schwieger meet since late January for an intercultural dialogue. The drawn comic strip in the form of a comic blog serves as the language. There, the two artists will publish comic strips in alternate weeks and discuss in this way the specifics characteristics of their cultures.
The project was initiated by the Goe- the Institute Tokyo on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of German-Japanese friendship. From April the dialogue will fol- low, parallel to the online version, in print- ed form in the German magazine, Comix.