BERKELEY, Calif. – November 7, 2007 – To call the pioneering creator of Metropolis, Buddha, Phoenix, and Astro Boy the "God of Manga" might be an understatement. Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989) produced more than 150,000 spectacularly drawn pages of manga and over 70 animated titles. In The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution (Stone Bridge Press, 2007) San Francisco-based author and Japan expert Frederik L. Schodt tells the story of Tezuka through the creation of his ethically complex android hero, Astro Boy.

In a special engagement at the Japan Society of Northern California on Wednesday, November 14th, Schodt will speak about Tezuka, his creative process, and the birth of the anime and manga industries in Japan and the United States. Graphic novel fans, students of animation, Japanophiles and film buffs take note: this is the real story! RSVP ASAP!

Copies of The Astro Boy Essays will be for sale at the talk, which will be followed by a booksigning.

Frederik L. Schodt on Osamu Tezuka: The Astro Boy Essays
Wednesday, November 14th
Japan Society
500 Washington Street, Suite 500, San Francisco
5:30 p.m. Reception, 6:00 p.m. Program, 7:00 p.m. Booksigning
Free for Japan Society Members & Students / $5.00 Non Members
Generously co-sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee
To register, call 415-986-4383 or visit:
http://japansocietyofnortherncalifornia.myshopify.com/products/schodt

* For review copies or to schedule an interview please contact Ari Messer at 510-524-8732 x116 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Visit the Stone Bridge Press blog for up-to-date listings: http://stonebridgepress.blogspot.com/ *

About Frederik L. Schodt
Frederik L. Schodt, fluent in written and spoken Japanese, is a translator and author of numerous books about Japan, including Dreamland Japan, America and the Four Japans, Native American in the Land of the Shogun (all Stone Bridge Press), and Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics, the first book in English on manga, published in 1983. Schodt translated the 23-volume Astro Boy series and numerous other manga into English and often served as Tezuka’s personal interpreter. In 2000, Schodt received the Asahi Shimbun’s Osamu Tezuka Culture Award, for popularizing manga overseas. A busy translator, he lives in San Francisco.

Praise for The Astro Boy Essays
“A MUST HAVE.”
Publishers Weekly's Comics Blog, 'The Beat'

"Schodt gives a concise and detailed introduction to the life, influence and significance of Tezuka..."
Tokyopop.com

Praise for America and the Four Japans
 “Frederik Schodt’s work is well known to anyone interested in Japanese popular culture. In this book, as in his legendary Manga! Manga!, he shows his deep command of the nuance of Japanese life.”
James Fallows, National Editor, The Atlantic Monthly

“Richly detailed... speaks with refreshing bicultural sensitivity and balance.”
San Francisco Chronicle

About Stone Bridge Press
Stone Bridge Press is an English-language publisher specializing in books about Japan and Asia. Founded in 1989 by publisher and editor-in-chief Peter Goodman, the Berkeley-based company has over 150 titles in print and has received numerous awards for publishing excellence, including two Benjamin Franklin Awards. Among its authors are Donald Richie (The Inland Sea), Leonard Koren (Wabi-Sabi), Leza Lowitz (YOga Poems), Teruyo Nogami (Waiting on the Weather: Making Movies with Akira Kurosawa), and Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy (The Anime Encyclopedia). Books under the Heian imprint include Becoming Buddha: The Story of Siddhartha, Humphrey The Lost Whale, and multiple titles in the Asian Folktales Retold and Origami Favorites series.

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