The Noto Peninsula Earthquake was an inland crustal earthquake that occurred on January 1, 2024 at 16:10 JST on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. The magnitude of the earthquake was М7.6, and the city of Wajima and the town of Shiga, Hakui County, observed a maximum intensity of 7. To date, the earthquake has killed 462 people, mainly in Ishikawa Prefecture, injured 1,345, and damaged nearly 140,000 homes according to a report by Japanese Government’s Cabinet Office. Nearly a year after the disaster, reconstruction efforts are still underway in the affected areas.On December 23, Skip and Loafer, a Japanese manga series by Misaki Takamatsu, whose protagonist Mitsumi Iwakura is from Noto, launched a project to support the reconstruction of the Noto region, named “Skip and Loafer and Noto.”For each person who reads the first chapter of the manga on the special website of the same name, 100 yen will be donated to the Ishikawa Prefecture’s relief fund account. There is no donation burden for browser users and donations will be limited to 100 yen even if the first chapter is viewed multiple times from the same browser. And the maximum donation amount is 10 million yen (64,000 USD). The site will remain open until 23:59 on Wednesday, January 22, 2025 JST.The site also offers the first three volumes of the manga free of charge. By reading the manga and getting to know Mitsumi, who is from Noto, you can deepen your connection with Noto. The press release reads: “Noto is an important hometown for Mitsumi, the protagonist in ‘Skip and Loafer.’ Reading this manga, even if you have never been there, you will feel close to Noto. This is the first step to thinking about the disaster area and what we can do for its recovery.”
The project site visual
Additionally, today’s morning edition of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper carried an advertisement with a new illustration by the manga author, Misaki Takamatsu.
Source: Kodansha Press Release©Misaki Takamatsu/KODANSHA
