Viz properties such as Yu-Gi-Oh! and Dragonball Z, along with Shonen Jump magazines, will be made available through RIF's national network of schools and clubs to children beginning this summer and continuing in the fall.
Properties from Viz will also be included in the Jump to Japan: Discovering Culture Through Popular Art exhibit, which will tour children's museums in more than seventy U.S. cities over the next four years. Video images and content from Pokemon and Hamtaro, along with panels from Shonen Jump, will be part of the show.
The first exhibit just wrapped up its first showing in Seattle, and is now moving on according to the following schedule:
- July 2004 - September 2004
Felix Adler Children's Museum
Clinton, Iowa
- November 2004 - January 2005
Explora
Albuquerque, New Mexico
- March 2005 - May 2005
The Children's Museum
Memphis, Tennessee
- July 2005 - September 2005
Boonshoft Museum of Discovery
Columbus, Ohio
- November 2005 - January 2006
Minnesota Children's Museum
St. Paul, Minnesota
- MID-TOUR REFURBISHMENT
St. Paul, Minnesota
- June 2006 - August 2006
DuPage Children's Museum
Dupage, Illinois
- October 2006 - December 2006
COSI
Toledo, Ohio
- February 2007 - April 2007
Pittsburgh Children's Museum
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- June 2007 - August 2007
Buell Children's Museum
Pueblo, Colorado
- October 2007 - December 2007
Treehouse Children's Museum
Salt Lake City, Utah
- February 2008 - April 2008
San Antonio Children's Museum
San Antonio, Texas
The involvement by Viz in both of these high profile events, coming hot on the heels of its inclusion in USA Today's Life feature this week will certainly create new readers of manga and new anime viewers, which will benefit pop culture retailers for years to come.