HIROSHIMA -- The Hiroshima city board of education plans to replace a long-used and globally known manga series that depicts the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima as part of its peace education materials used at municipal schools in the next academic year.
The board said it made the decision because it deems the times depicted in "Barefoot Gen" differ too much from those of today, and that using only portions of the manga could cause misunderstanding about the descriptions.
"Barefoot Gen," created by the late Keiji Nakazawa, is the story of a boy named Gen who loses most of his family in the atomic bombing but bravely continues on with his life. The series has been translated into 24 languages including English, Russian and Arabic.
