The Sunday Gleaner

ARTS&EDUCATION
www.jamaica-gleaner.com

SECTION E

NOVEMBER 5, 2017

We learned about gratitude and humility – that so many people
had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us tothe janitors who kept our school clean ... and we were taught tovalue everyone’s contribution and treat everyone with respect.

MICHELLE OBAMAFROM DEFYING THE
TALIBAN TO PURSUINGEDUCATIONPG E3Unique Tokyo museum imparts
Jlessons inGlenda Anderson
Sunday Gleaner Writer

TOKYO, Japan:
APAN’S ANIMATION industry iscelebrating its 100th anniversarythis year, and earlier last month, anexhibition at the anime museum inTokyo’s Suginami Ward was mounted.
While the Black Jack and Dragon
Ball series and characters like Goku,Pokemon, Astro Boy, and Naruto arewell known in Jamaica and the wider
Caribbean, museum officials say that
this is only a fragment of the animation
produced in Japan.
There are about 80 different animation stories introduced every week,with a total of 11,000 titles during the100 years.
Anime is a technique that uses aseries of films that create the illusion ofmovement, usually with characters thatare otherworldly.
It became widely popular in Japan in
the 1950s with the beginning of television broadcasting. Anime in those days
were short-form cartoons with a significant Disney influence, as well as byother American cartoon characters suchas Betty Boop and Popeye.
But the Japanese animation industry
especially took off with the work of
local anime pioneer Osamu Tezuka,
who is perhaps best known for developing the Astro Boy story. Until Tezuka,
animation films in Japan were very shortand did not have much of a storyline.

PHOTO BY AMITABH SHARMAPLEASE SEE ANIME, E2

Beyond televison and shows – Hello Kitty merchandise is popular worldwide.

MERL GROVE HIGH SCHOOL IS NO LONGER THE BEST KEPTSECRET OF KINGSTON

M

erl Grove High
graduates has earned a 100% pass
School, anrate for Agricultural Science,
institution of theElectronic Document Preparation
Associated Gospel
Management, Family Resource
Assemblies is in its
Management, Office Administration,finest days and the best
Principle of Business, Religious
is yet to come. This was
Education, Technical Drawing,
demonstrated on
Textile, Clothing and Fashion. In ourSunday, October 29,
2017 CAPE results our girls earned
2017 at our Graduation
100% pass rate for Accounting UnitsCeremony. Guest
1 and 2, Entrepreneurship,
Speaker for theManagement of Business Units1
ceremony was Ms.
and 2, Communication Studies,
Sharon Hay Webster,
Literatures in English Units 1 & 2,
MEMBERS OF THE MERL GROVE HIGH SCHOOL FAMILY
Senior Advisor to theGeography, Mathematics Unit 2,
From right to left: Chairman of the School Board,
Minister of Education
Law Unit 2, Caribbean Studies,
Reverend Anthony White; Board Member Mrs.
Youth and Information
Sociology Unit 2, Biology Unit 2,
Gennette Clacken; Vice Principal, Mr. Donovan Hunter;
who spoke on women
Chemistry Unit 2, and Physics
President of the Past Students’ Association andempowerment. She
Units1 and 2 with 92% of subjects
Board Member, Miss Shelly-Ann Morgan; Principal,
encouraged the girls toscored a pass rate of 80% or above.
Dr. Marjorie Fullerton and Husband of Principal, Mr.
read at least two (2)Collin Fullerton
paragraphs per day
To ensure that the school continues
instead of spending
to rise to the top, Dr. Fullerton hastime on the cell phones and also to be strong in theirinnovative ways including an attractive incentive
beliefs and never allow their backgrounds to limit theirprogram to keep students as well as teachers motivatedambitions. She also illustrated to them the paths of self
and, most importantly, she has earned the support ofreliance and independence.
parents, past students and community sponsors in herendeavours. The Principal addressed the graduates ofThe students consistently
2017 as stars, and her charge to them was to remember
perform well academically,that their choices matter so make them wisely; to use
and continue to strive for
their talents; never fear the judgment of critics whoconsistent excellence inwatch from the sidelines; work hard at something they
sports, the performing arts
love; act courageously and never sacrifice their integrity
and other extra-curricular
because once lost is hard to regain; and to create theiractivities. Currently ourown destiny so that success will follow them on theirschool is ranked among thejourney.
best performing high schools
in Jamaica. We are steadfast
One major strategy the principal employs to keepin our theme ʻExcellence ismotivation high is allowing students to sit the Caribbean
Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) or Caribbean
achievable, make every
moment count” through its
Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) subjects ofmotto: ʻHard Worktheir choice, and graduating students are classified as
Overcomes all difficultiesʼ.
diploma or certificate based on the number of range
Guest Speaker:
ones they receive in CSEC and CAPE.
Mrs. Sharon Hay Webster With a passionate, self
She operates the school, by having all students sit theSenior Advisor to thedriven, motivated andcore CSEC subjects without restrictions. The objective is
Minister of Education
innovative educator at its
to give every student an opportunity in those subjects.
Youth and Information
helm, it is no surprise that this We also provide top students with lucrative rewards.
all girls school continues tooutperform some of the countryʼs other institutions. Dr.
Shaquina Davis was the top performing CAPE Unit 1
Marjorie Fullerton, who has been Principal for the past
student for 2017 with all distinctions and straight ʻAʼ
one and a half years, shares that her vision is to ensureprofile while Tiana Myers was the top student for Unit 2that the school is the “number one high school of choicewith all distinctions. The top CSEC student was Tatyanafor girls”. “Over the years, we have been doing
Hamilton who was also the Valedictorian for theextremely well in academics. Our class of 2017
ceremony.

She is presently enrolled
at the University ofTechnology. Shaquina
Davis was also awarded
the J. Barbara Martin
Scholarship for her
outstanding performancein CAPE.
Merl Grove High School isbursting with great
potential, we intend tocontinue to exceed
expectations and toproduce learners andValedictorian of the Class ofleaders who refuse to be
2017: Tatyana Hamilton
average, and blazing trails
that leaves indelible
footprints in our home communities and beyond. Merl
Grove High School is an institution of academic
excellence and has made significant and unparalleledcontribution to society in terms of producing numerous
dignitaries, scholars and intellectuals who have served
and are serving different domains in Jamaica andabroad. The aim is to transform shy and uninformed girls
into enlightened and liberated ladies and make each
student a torchbearer of the values of rationality, truth,equality and equanimity with God's help.
No longer will we be the best kept secret in the country.
We can and we will rise to the top because of ourcommitment to join forces as a united school family,
declaring that our students will receive the besteducation possible. We are in our finest days and thebest is yet to come! We wish the Class of 2017 all
successes and urge them all not to settle for mediocrity
but to strive for greater heights of success and take theirrightful place in the Society.

Merl Grove High School Graduating Class of2017

ADVT.

E2THE SUNDAY GLEANER, NOVEMBER 5, 2017 | ARTS & EDUCATIONANIMECONTINUED FROM E1

Astro Boy, a 30-minute animation with an engaging storyline,
became a major hit.
Today, the anime industry isenormous in Japan, with over
200 original animation films
created in the country.
While there are more than
600 animation studios acrossJapan, most are located inTokyo and are especially concentrated in Suginami. The area
is widely recognised as the‘town of animation’.
The showcase at the Suginami
Animation Museum is the walk
down the path of history, fromthe days of analogue tomegapixel digitalisation.
Today, the animation industry
has grown exponentially andhas opened exciting career
opportunities for those who are
creatively inclined.
In 2015, the size of the global
animation industry was about
US$244 billion, with the UnitedStates, Canada, Japan, China,France, Britain, Korea, andGermany as the sought-aftermarkets.
COURTESY SUGINAMI ANIMATION MUSEUM

MORE OPPORTUNITIESIt is estimated that the industry is growing at a five per centyear-on-year basis and opening
opportunities for outsourcing ofcomputer-animation production,
which is being tapped by North
American and European film
and television producers.
This is an opportunity that
Jamaica and the wider
Caribbean can benefit from andlook to tap into this burgeoning
industry to position themselves
as hubs of creating quality animation.
Visitors to the museum,
which was established by theSuginami municipal government to support the area’s studios and which does not charge
an admission fee, are allowed toDigital factory at Tokyo’s Suginami Animation Museum.
view mock-ups of the different
parts of the production process.
The preparatory stage
includes planning, design, andstoryboarding.
The production stage is wherecolour and background areadded, while post-production iswhere editing and recording aredone.

HIGHLY APPRECIATED

PHOTOS BY AMITABH SHARMA

Masami Suda – anime sensei – sketches Jibanyan, the ghost of a cat from ‘Yo-Kai
Watch’.

“Anime has come to be highly
appreciated worldwide in therecent years as a unique art originating from Japan,” says
Shinichi Suzuki, director of theSuginami Animation museum,in his message in the museum’s
brochure.
“While anime now enjoys
increasing popularity,” Suzukicontinues, “we must not forgetthat in the history of anime,
there were people who struggled
to make a living but who wereextremely driven and dedicatedto perfecting their art. It is thesepeople who really deserve ouradmiration.”

To produce a 30-minute piece,
over 300 sets of background,
200 persons, and 4,000 scenes
may be used.
While the earlier animation
process was very detailed andintricate, with the scenes andcharacters drawn by hand,today, some of those processes,
for example, background creation, have been computerised.
Visitors to the museuminclude adults and groups ofgrade-school children, all ofwhom were equally excited to
be allowed to draw anime characters using templates in a studio and use a machine to dovoice-over.
The visit to Japan is part of‘Pacific Islands and Caribbean
Journalists’ Programme’ organised by the Tokyo-based
Association for Promotion ofInternational Cooperation, withsupport from the Foreign Press
Centre, Japan.
glenda.anderson@gleanerjm.com

Mobile Suit Gundam – character from a televised anime
series that premiered in Japan in 1979.