Japan's Education Minister has apologized to the former National Media Arts Center committee for ditching the project. The committee members all had that "How dare you do this to us?" look on their faces during the meeting, especially Machiko Satonoka, one of the most famous shoujo manga artists from the 70's. She insisted that the government should build a "hub" for media arts-related facilities across Japan. The minister made a vague promise that the government will do something at some point in the future, and will continue to somehow support the media arts.

As I sat and watched this on the news, and couldn't help but feel that they're all beating on a dead horse. I don't hear anyone else complaining about the situation except for those committee members. I dread the thought of the public uproar should tax money be spent on supporting manga and anime artists. The committee members' personal assets are worth millions, so perhaps they could donate a small part of it to establish such "hub" and let my tax money improve the lives of those who could really use some help.