Youka Nitta - Mod Post: Youka Nitta Contact Info

Youka Nitta

Mod Post: Youka Nitta Contact Info

16th-Jul-2008 02:56 pm

Unfortunately, the first modly post here is also a sad one. Nitta-sensei has been caught up in a plagiarism scandal; it is not yet determined how bad this is, and what the consequences for her will be. It is not as bad as it seems; Nitta-sensei has been using fashion photos as reference for some of her covers, but it is questionable if this is a case of plagiarism or just erm- slightly enthusiastic inspiration and use of photo reference.

A link to a news article with the most incriminating example is here.

In Japan, however, this is a big thing, and one of the results might be that Youka Nitta might stop creating any more manga - at least for some time. Nitta-sensei has not been aware of the copyright infringement and - due to the fact that she has several editors and assistants who should have known better and stopped her - I tend to believe her. Therefore I'll use some time and money for the next months or years, if necessary, to send letters to support Nitta-sensei and tell her publishers that I'd love more from her hand. If any of you wants to do the same, I've posted contact information for Nitta-sensei and her publishers.

The info is collected by

pgrape over at

youka_nitta@LJ and posted here by her permission.

I'll link to this post from the side bar and I encourage you to use a stamp or two and send Youka Nitta a few supportive words. Physical evidence always works better than email. Nitta-sensei understands and reads English, if not overly well. Do mind the fact that all mail will probably be read by assistants at the publishers.

ETA: For those of you whose browser can't handle Japanese signs, I've made a screen dump so you can download the picture and print out the addresses that way. Pic's here.

ETA II: Thanks to

pgrape, we now have the translated addresses, if you'd rather use those. The post below's edited.

From

pgrape:

First, sensei's own website can be found here: youka-nitta.com

Unfortunately, all content (except her apology) has been removed. I don't know when or if access will be restored.

Sensei's publishers will accept postal mail on her behalf and forward it to her. The downside to this is that the mail will be read by the publisher's employees. The upside is, the mail will be read by the publisher's employees. 8-) We want them to see the love we have for her.

I strongly encourage you to send postal mail if at all possible. The more the publisher sees of sensei's international support, the more likely they will be to bring her back quickly. It's easy to ignore an e-mail; it is less easy to ignore a bulging sack of physical mail (and the complaints of the postal carrier).

Publishers have contact pages and, in some cases, forums on their web sites. However, English language messages may not get through.

Libre (for "Haru wo Daiteita" and "Boku no Koe" in "BeBoy Gold")
Website: www.b-boy.jp

〒162-0825　
東京都新宿区神楽坂6-46
Libre Publishing
Attention: Nitta Youka-sensei [or Attention: 新田祐克先生]
JAPAN

Taiyoh Tosho (for "A Minister Excellency" in "HertZ")
Website: www.bs-garden.com

〒101-0065
東京都千代田区西神田3-3-9
大洋ビル 3 F
大洋図書
Attention: Nitta Youka-sensei [or Attention: 新田祐克先生]
JAPAN

Houbunsha (for "When a Man Loves a Man" and the cover illustrations for "Citta Nium")
Website: hanaoto.net

〒１１２－８５８０　
東京都文京区後楽１－２－１２
株式会社　芳文社
Attention: Nitta Youka-sensei [or Attention: 新田祐克先生]
JAPAN

Shinshokan (for "Otodama" in "Monthly Wings")
Website: www.shinshokan.co.jp

〒113-0024　
東京都文京区西片2-19-18
株式会社　新書館
Attention: Nitta Youka-sensei [or Attention: 新田祐克先生]
JAPAN

A note about the addresses: They are in standard Japanese format, which is "upside down" from the way addresses are usually written in English-speaking countries.

Postal Code
City and Street Address
[Additional information if given]
Company Name

Addresses in Romaji:

Nitta Youka-sensei
Libre Publishing
6-46, Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku
Tokyo 162-0825
JAPAN

Nitta Youka-sensei
Taiyoh Tosho
3F Taiyoh Building
3-3-9, Nishikanda, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 101-0065
JAPAN

Nitta Youka-sensei
Houbunsha Co., Ltd.
1-2-12, Koraku, Bunkyo-ku
Tokyo 112-8580
JAPAN

Nitta Youka-sensei
Shinshokan Co., Ltd.
2-19-18, Nishikata, Bunkyo-ku
Tokyo 113-0024
JAPAN

Tags: *modly, author: snapelike, type: lj repost

Comments

16th-Jul-2008 08:17 am

hphaeton

WTF? I don't get it. Doujinshi are allowed all over the place but using fashion photos for reference is a big thing?

16th-Jul-2008 08:21 am

snapelike

Yeah, one can wonder... but it seems to be a big offence in Japan. I don't think it's particularly bad. She did not filch the photos and pose them as her own, she used the pose, dammit. Hence the "support Nitta-sensei now!"-movement.

16th-Jul-2008 08:27 am

elfflame

Thank you for writing this out, hon. I was pretty distressed when I saw it over at LJ last night. I hope she doesn't stop.

Sounds like the issue lies in what people consider as copyrighted. I mean, I know artists here in the states do that sort of thing all the time. And that that's how plenty of artists learn in school, too. I didn't realize it was such a huge issue until someone on my flist got snippy about someone else doing it a few years back. I still can't say I understand *why* it is, though.

16th-Jul-2008 08:34 am

snapelike

There is a difference between copyright laws in Jp and US. It wouldn't be a big deal here either, seeing that our Queen uses decoupage - and thereby other people's creations - to create art. It shouldn't be an issue, but as it is, Nitta-sensei might be out of the manga business for at least a year or two. What she's done might not be ethical, but at least she admitted it immediately and didn't try to avoid admitting it. It might earn her some points.

Now we just have to encourage each other and Nitta-sensei. We need to created art and fics, to write meta, and fill the void with all the lovely things we can think of. Even RPs. I've mentioned those, right? :P

Lore and I have ideas, oh yes we have. And we'll send letters to the publishers, demanding Youka Nitta back at work! /blatant enthusiasm

16th-Jul-2008 08:46 am

elfflame

*nods* Doesn't surprise me, really. I just hadn't realized there was that big of a difference. I was shocked when people were reacting like she stole her story from somewhere, to be quite honest, which to me is a very different issue. But I will admit that the example that everyone's pointing to is pretty blatant.

*snickers* Yes, you might have mentioned the RP. :P Now I just need to find a way to be able to read Nitta-san's address so I can send a letter with my well-wishes.

:D Let me know if there's anything I can help with. (Aside from RP)

16th-Jul-2008 08:55 am

snapelike

I can recommend just c/p and print the addresses in kana/kanji. As long as it says "JAPAN" in Arabic letters, the postal service's going to throw it in the right direction and it'll reach her.

I think we have so many lovely ideas that there will be things to do. We just need to collect them a bit and poke at them so they are beaten into shape before we go public.

Also, as for people reacting strongly: it's sort of the FW horde reaction again. Enraging and ranting just to do it. Of course Nitta-sensei has been naive and done something not so clever, but she didn't steal any stories or something like that.

16th-Jul-2008 09:10 am

elfflame

*nods* But I don't have my browser set up to see kanji, so all I see are questionmarks. But I have a few ideas of what to do so I can.

I'll have to see what I can come up with. For some reason, Sawa is in my head at the moment, so we'll see. :)

Good point. It's easy to pick on an obvious flaw. And at least she came right out and admitted it. That's something.

16th-Jul-2008 10:09 am

snapelike

Ah. I can make a screen dump and send you, then you can simply print out the pic and glue the addresses on an envelope...

Oh, we have a Yukihito-kun straying? Or Sawa-san?

16th-Jul-2008 08:43 pm

elfflame

Something along the lines of what happened after the family left when they found out about Sawa, or when it became more than Sawa simply taking care of Yukihito. :)

And thank you very much for the addy. :)

17th-Jul-2008 02:33 am

snapelike

Mmm, that would be a lovely thing to get that part of their story... You *are* going to write that, right?

Heh, I've had Iwaki (the one from When a Man) discussing with Kenzaki (also from WMLM) and Onozuka (Haru) in my head all morning. *swats them* WTF!

And you're welcome.

17th-Jul-2008 08:16 am

elfflame

I will see what I can manage. :D

I think I need to read that one next...

16th-Jul-2008 10:22 am

snapelike

Screen dump: http://pics.livejournal.com/snapelike/pic/0009ga27

16th-Jul-2008 06:17 pm

magic_position

This is very bad news :( She copied the whole ad so there's definitely copyright issues, but at least she didn't copy some other mangaka like that Kayono did.. I hope she wont get too much trouble over this.

17th-Jul-2008 02:41 am

snapelike

She probably will. There is still the issue of fair use. I mean... Roy Lichtenstein, Warhol, a bunch of poets and gods know how many writers have done the same with other people's art/photos/writing. I think Getty Picture's guidelines says something about a picture has to be altered 20% (how they're going to decide what 20% is is beyond me), and from what I've read of Jp copyright law, she's on the border. I think people forget that Nitta-sensei has not been formally accused of anything, so my personal opinion is to slow down the witch hunt a bit.

Unfortunately she's stepped over the unwritten laws as it is, so whether this is going to hold up in court or not might not matter the least. Hopefully, her publishers understands that she's worth keeping, and that it is highly unlikely she'll ever make any mistakes like that again.

Damn, this is going to be a long wait. :(

17th-Jul-2008 02:26 pm

magic_position

I agree with you... Her stories are her own and even in the pictures made from the photos the results look like her men.

Yeah... loong wait probably :(

17th-Jul-2008 06:50 pm

lore

Just to make it clear, there are examples where she must have taken an ad into photoshop and cut and pasted together her drawn images with bits and pieces of the ad. Sometimes, it was as innocuous as using the flowers in the background, but there are a few ads here she pretty much just added drawn heads over the existing ad model and made the image a bit "glowy" to look drawn. Still, if 20% is a legal standard, then I think she made it easily in almost every case.

On the other end of the dial are many images people are holding up as plagiarised that are more likely drawn using an ad as a photo reference, not an outright cut and paste job. Photo references have been an area of debate among artists lately, but the very basics of learning art is to draw from a model standing before you. While some artists don't respect the use of photo references in art, as far as I know, there's been no lawsuits concerning the use of an image as a photo reference.

The point is, now that some ads have been proved to be used directly in some of Nitta-sensei's images, people are lumping in the photo-referenced art as "plagiarised" as well. There are even a few examples where it's not clear that she used any photo reference, but instead someone found an ad that sort-of matched the art. Her Harudaki and Man Loves a Man characters are all models - of course she'd be using some standard modeling positions in her work.

Personally, I feel there's a bit of a witch-hunt on, possibly even started by a disgruntled former employee and taken up by those jealous of Nitta-sensei's success. Everyone loves a scandal, and everyone loves to blow a scandal out of proportion even more.

If there are no lawsuits filed by the end of the year by the ad companies that Nitta-sensei cribbed from, I think we'll see her back in less than a year. I do think it will take time for Libre and the various ad companies to come to some sort of terms about Nitta-sensei's existing art. If permissions cannot be obtained, then we just might see her back-catalog wiped out. I'd like to think that she makes too much money for Libre for the publisher to not put an effort into negotiating a deal with the ad companies so that they can move forward with her back-catalog and her existing series.

But, hey, what does this gaijin know? ~_^

love, lore

17th-Jul-2008 07:55 pm

snapelike

I think your comment sums it up rather precisely. Both what happened and the future for Nitta-sensei. Money is always a good argument, and Libre will not let their money-maker go, if they can help it, I'm sure.

24th-Dec-2008 01:37 pm

Anonymous

Thanks so much for the dddresses in Romaji to Nitta Youka sensei...I'll be writing some to her today...

I miss her works so much....

Happy Holidays!

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