Shogakukan Inc. is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, manga, non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hitotsubashi Group, one of the largest publishing groups in Japan. Shogakukan is headquartered in the Shogakukan Building in Hitotsubashi, part of Kanda, Chiyoda, Tokyo, near the Jimbocho book district. The corporation also has the other two companies located in the same ward.
Shogakukan, along with Shueisha, owns Viz Media, which publishes manga from both companies in the United States. Shogakukan's licensing arm in North America was ShoPro Entertainment; it was merged into Viz Media in 2005. Shogakukan's production arm is Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions In March 2010 it was announced that Shogakukan would partner with the American comics publisher Fantagraphics to issue a line of manga to be edited by Matt Thorn.
In Europe, manga from Shōgakukan and Shūeisha are published by local publishers such like Pika Édition, Ki-oon, Kana and Kazé for the French market, and Kazé, Carlsen, Egmont and Tokyopop for the German market. Shogakukan, Shueisha and ShoPro have made a joint venture named Viz Media Europe. Viz Media Europe bought in 2009 the French Kazé Group whose activities are mainly publishing manga and home video for the French and German market.
The company has a wholly owned subsidiary, Shogakukan Asia, headquartered in Singapore. Besides producing popular titles in English such as Detective Conan, Pokémon and Future Card Buddyfight, the company also partners with local creators such as Johnny Lau to publish comic series for distribution in Southeast Asia.
New Manga Awards
Shogakukan has awards for amateur manga artists who want to become professional. It allows people to either send in their manga by mail or bring it in to an editor.
On February 15, 2018, CoroCoro Comic, a children's magazine published by Shogakukan published its March issue with a cartoon mocking Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire. The comic depicted a boy drawing juvenile things on pictures of famous people, such as a dog’s face on a picture of Albert Einstein. Genghis Khan was depicted with a crude rendering of male genitalia on his forehead. Initially, Shogakukan offered an apology addressed to the Mongolian Embassy in Tokyo on February 23, but it failed to mollify reactions by the Mongolians in Japan who regard Genghis Khan a national hero. On February 26, Mongolians and citizens from China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region residing in Japan sent a formal letter of protest to Shogakukan and a group of approximately 90 demonstrators protested in front of Shogakukan Inc.'s headquarters. Major bookselling chains, Kinokuniya, Miraiya and Kumazawa pulled the publication off its shelves after the Mongolian Embassy of Tokyo filed an official complaint with the Japanese Foreign Ministry. In March 2018, Shogakukan issued a further public apology, announced a national recall of the magazine and offered reimbursement to magazine goers. CoroCoro Comic's website also published an apology by Asumi Yoshino, author of the serialized manga, "Yarisugi!!! Itazura-kun," which contained the controversial cartoon drawing.
