For millions of readers, comic strips are a living dimension, a place of the imagination with which they identify and in which they move, a dimension where events and characters are as "real" as they would be in a film or a novel. This gut-level way of experiencing the comic strip is even stronger in Asian countries, particularly in Japan, where the cultural consumption of mangas involves every taste and age group, where drawing is a living part of everyday life and of the way cities are organised: from schools and the police force to advertising and fashion, everyone uses comic strips to communicate. To tie in with the Mangasia: Wonderlands of Asian Comics exhibition, the Palazzo delle Esposizioni has invited some of the leading experts, cartoonists, scriptwriters, editors and translators of mangas currently working in Italy to share their experience and research and to help us take a new look at the imaginary world in Asia and the huge impact it has had on both the comic strip and in other spheres here in Italy.

In homepage: Keiichi Tanaami, Comfort of Patient Bridge ©Keiichi Tanaami Courtesy of the artist and NANZUKA (detail)