Proponents of the National Center for Media Arts argue that it will help foreign researchers examining Japan's popular culture. The Japan Times asked prominent scholars from overseas their thoughts on the proposed facility.
"I think the new center could function in such a way as to facilitate communication between people in the various existing popular culture museums and libraries around Japan — to arrange for copyright permissions, facilitate research projects and promote preservation efforts. It could also coordinate conferences, research projects, conservation studies, lists of holdings, digitization projects and so on."
Maureen Donovan — associate professor at Ohio State University, where she is responsible for manga acquisitions at the Ohio State University Cartoon Library and Museum.