In an effort to gather the world’s attention to Japanese art in the form of anime, manga, video games and contemporary art, as well as preserving these art forms, a budget of 117 billion yen, approximately $1,16 billion, will be used to build the “Hall-of-Fame”. At the same time there will be plans to improve the transportation in central Tokyo.
When finished this will be the first national facility focusing entirely on these art forms.
Japanese source: The Asahi Shimbun
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Update to this post : 2009-05-10
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The Chief Secretary for the Democratic Party Yukio Hatoyama openly criticized the budget for building the “Hall-of-Fame”. He described prime minister Taro Aso as being part of the “National Tea Cartoon” and for being very wasteful and ridiculous.
Source: IZA News