Tetsuya Chiba (87), the manga artist behind “Ashita no Joe” (“Tomorrow’s Joe”), is calling for crowdfunding to deliver simple temporary housing to areas hit by the Kumamoto earthquake in July. The campaign runs through September 15, with a goal of ¥1.5 million to build three air-conditioned housing units.
On the thread, many commenters said “someone of his stature could surely cover this out of pocket,” while others argued it’s wrong to rely on celebrity donations for something the government should be handling, and still others compared the amount to past donations from manga artists like Eiichiro Oda — opinions were split over how celebrity giving should work.
Wed, Sep 9, 14:33
Tetsuya Chiba (87), the manga artist known for “Ashita no Joe,” and others are seeking support through crowdfunding to deliver simple temporary housing to areas affected by the July Kumamoto earthquake.
The campaign runs through the 15th, with a goal of ¥1.5 million. Chiba is appealing: “Please lend us your strength.”
Guess I'll crack a beer while watching Peace-kun, the world's most famous capybara from Omiya Zoo, on YouTube.
5AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:09
Wild that he's still got a running series — in color, no less.
8AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:11
He's basically just an ordinary old man you'd see anywhere now.
9AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:12
Can't a guy with Chiba's wealth just cover ¥1.5 million out of his own pocket?
10AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:12
Re: #1
He's got the money — just pay it out of his own pocket instead of relying on broke citizens.
11AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:12
I want a Mammoth Nishi illustration (a character from Ashita no Joe).
89AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:12
Re: #11
You udon bastard.
12AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:13
Even his protégé Koshiba Tetsuya could probably cough up ¥1.5 million.
13AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:13
What happened to the ones used in the last earthquake? Just reuse those.
14AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:14
🍙 I thought he was the author of the baseball manga 'Captain,' huh (´^ω^`)… that's Chiba Akio. Are they brothers or something, huh (´^ω^;) (mimicking the singsong "~o" speech pattern of the old 'onigiri' copypasta meme)
18AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:17
A guy of his caliber wouldn't even need to crowdfund — just auction off a signed shikishi board with a drawing and message, and the money would roll in fast.
19AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:17
Nah, nah — just get Togashi, Buronson, and Rumiko Takahashi to chip in ¥500,000 each and call it done.
20AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:17
His protégé George Morikawa could probably spare ¥10 million, easy.
22AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:18
What's Eiichiro Oda up to? He's from Kumamoto, right?
25AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:19
Re: #22
Didn't he donate something like a hundred million yen last time?
24AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:18
This time the goal is ¥500,000 per unit including air conditioning, for three units total.
26AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:19
If the reward were an illustrated thank-you letter, a bunch of manga artists each doing this could probably rake in a serious amount.
27AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:20
Me, I'd like a proper standalone house, pweeease! (playful, childish speech quirk in the original)
28AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:20
Meanwhile there's a manga artist who had ¥4.6 billion embezzled from him lol
29AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:20
'Captain' really is a classic.
95AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:17
Re: #29
Re-read it after becoming a middle-aged guy and it was still great. Funny how your feelings toward something usually change with age, but not this time.
31AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:22
It's a wonderful thing, but I feel like it's not quite right for celebrities to keep footing the bill for something the government should really be doing. I'd rather see all the celebrities band together and ask, "Why are you abandoning the people?"
35AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:24
Re: #31
Construction of proper temporary housing is already underway, and people started moving in this month. What's the point of building one measly ¥1 million unit? lol
32AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:22
Guess he's from the old generation, so he's not exactly loaded. The original story for Ashita no Joe was by Kajiwara too, so the royalties were probably split 50/50 anyway. And even the pachinko machine version didn't hit big.
87AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:10
Re: #32
The Kyoraku (pachinko maker) version was fun, but it got boring after it passed to Sammy.
33AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:23
Building temporary housing in the disaster zone but only a handful of units — isn't that more of an unwanted favor than real help?
34AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:23
Oda does donate. His manga might suck, but he actually puts money back into his hometown.
38AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:27
Eh, I'm not gonna pay up just so some manga artist I've never met can feel good about himself. I already donate to causes I actually care about, so this one's on the manga artist's own dime, thanks.
40AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:28
Wouldn't a charity autograph session be faster? Go on a livestream, answer questions, take donations that way. Personally, if he answered my idea for a sequel to 'Ore wa Teppei' involving kendo and treasure hunting, I'd gladly throw some money his way.
46AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:30
My mental image of who actually donates to stuff like this: good-hearted broke people, basically.
61AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:39
A digital file as the thank-you gift? That's kind of insulting. If you're a real fan you'd want something to frame and keep.
65AnonymousSep 9, 2026 17:42
Re: #61
Can't really pull that off for ¥2,000, can you.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Crowdfunding isn’t always used simply because money is lacking. Campaigns run by celebrities are often meant to gather small donations from a wide pool of people, making a circle of support visible and keeping public attention on the disaster area — which is a separate issue from how wealthy Chiba personally is. Many commenters on the thread pushed back with “he should just pay out of his own pocket,” but that reaction stems partly from a misunderstanding of how fundraising campaigns actually work. Also, alongside government-led temporary housing programs, NPOs and crowdfunding campaigns often provide simple housing support in parallel — the small scale isn’t a case of “a drop in the bucket,” but more often fills gaps that public assistance doesn’t reach. The thread also brought up comparisons to Eiichiro Oda’s large past donations, but the form a donation takes varies from person to person and isn’t something that can be ranked as better or worse.
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