Manga—comic books—are a defining element of Japanese popular culture. They are also the extracurricular focus of a student club at Tokyo Tech.

"We have about 20 members," says the club president, Koichiro Mochikawa, a third-year chemistry major. "We get together each week to discuss our work. Twice a year, we display our manga at campus festivals. Each member produces a comic book of 8 or 12 pages for the events."

Complementing Tokyo Tech's manga club is the university's anime—animation—club, which meets in an adjacent room. Both groups are open to any and all interested artists.

"I didn't know anyone here when I enrolled," recalls Mochikawa. "And I had always loved manga. So joining the manga club seemed like a good way to make friends."

About half of the members create their manga on computers, the others choosing to draw by hand. As at other extracurricular clubs at Tokyo Tech, the members retire in their fourth year to concentrate on their graduation projects. One recent member, however, kept on drawing: he is now a professional manga artist.