A new digital, app-led anthology Yoshin; Tales of the Tohoku Earthquake Ten Years On features illustrations from a number of Broken Frontier-championed artists including our ‘Six to Watch’ creators Jem Milton and Shangomola Edunjobi, as well as Broken Frontier Award winners Katriona Chapman and Lucy Sullivan.
Yoshin; Tales of the Tohoku Earthquake Ten Years On is a digital-first anthology of short stories set in the towns and cities that were impacted by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. The earthquake, the most powerful in Japan and the fourth most since records began, had a toll of (at least) 15,899 lives, 2,529 missing people, thousands displaced and damage to 1,101,884 buildings across twenty prefectures.
Seven writers, majority female of Japanese heritage, have collaborated with seven emerging and internationally acclaimed comic book artists to cover a range of genres, from thriller through magical realism, comedy to tragedy. Each story is fully translated into both English and Japanese and narrated in both languages by UK-based Japanese performers, Haruka Kuroda (Gorrilaz) and Houmi Miura (‘It’s a Sin’, ‘Total War: Three Kingdoms’). Yoshin features the multiple choice, interactive story, ‘Aftershocks’ written by Peter Davison and illustrated by Lucy Sullivan, whose graphic novel ‘Barking’, published by Unbound and supported by Arts Council England and Lakes Festival International, was awarded Broken Frontier’s Breakout Talent Award 2019.
With the support of public funding from Arts Council England, Yoshin is available to download and access for free via bespoke app, powered by KOMIKAR™, and website. A hard-copy book with further commissions, enhanced with augmented reality, is planned for late 2022.
Contributors include:
- Jac Cattaneo (Metazen, Foundling Review)
- Katriona Chapman (Avery Hill Publishing)
- Peter Davison (Firewords Quarterly, Bath Flash Fiction Award)
- Shangomola Edunjobi (winner Manga Jiman 2018; One to Watch, Broken Frontier)
- Mathilde Heu (‘Samos – The Faces of Our Border’)
- Susanna Jones (John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, Betty Trask Award. ‘Earthquake Bird’ was adapted intoa motion picture by Netflix staring Alicia Vikander)
- Andy Lanning (Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel, DC, 2000 AD, Vertigo)
- Jem Milton (non-binary artist/writer of ongoing queer web comic ‘Flying Ship’)
- Houmi Miura (BBC Writersroom Northern Voices 2020, Alfred Bradley Bursary Award finalist)
- Grant Perkins (2000 AD, Dr Who)
- Clare Sumi (Royal Court Theatre, Yellow Earth Theatre)
- Dave Swann (Ted Hughes Award, Bridport Prize winning author and judge)
Yoshin supports Japanese NGO, Peace Boat Disaster Relief.
Digital edition content will be published through December 2021 to February 2022.
