A Hong Kong artist has won Japan's first "Nobel Prize of Manga" for artists working in the comic book genre abroad, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.
"Sun Tsu's Tactics" by Lee Chi Ching, 43, beat out 145 other entries from 26 countries and regions around the world, the ministry said.
Lee's historically themed adventure series ran from 1995 to 2006 in Chinese, and has been translated into numerous other languages, it said.
Lee, along with three runners-up, will be invited to Japan for a 10-day visit that includes accepting their trophies at a Monday ceremony in Tokyo and meetings with local manga artists, the ministry said.
The International Manga Award — which manga enthusiast Foreign Minister Taro Aso likened to a Nobel Prize when he first proposed it last year — was launched earlier this year as another step in Japan's efforts to harness the power of pop culture diplomacy.
The award is to be given to an artist working abroad whose work best contributes to the spread of the manga form worldwide. Manga often combine complex stories with drawing styles that differ from their Western superhero counterparts, particularly in their frequent emphasis on cuteness.