2009 marks an exciting year for Canada-Japan bilateral relations! It's been 80 years of since we started to collaborate on culture, technology and creativity. Now we want to celebrate pop-culture diplomacy through a bold new initiative.

Manga Memoirs Launches!

We'll Turn Your Story into Manga Magic

Zeros 2 Heroes is launching a new initiative to celebrate the cross-connections between the Canadian and Japanese cultures. If you are of Canadian or Japanese descent and have a personal story to share, then we want you to tell it.

The best of these submitted memoirs will be produced as digital manga stories by professional artists via the tried and true Zeros 2 Heroes system. If you're lucky enough to be selected, interested manga fans from around the world will watch your story come to life and enjoy the final manga when they are published online in April!

We are also looking for manga artists to round out our team. If you've got a portfolio of such work, take a few minutes and upload it to the Manga Memoirs site. We pay in either yen or good old fashioned greenbacks.

How do you participate?

Simply join the site and use the online story tool to submit your 8 page story idea to the scrutiny of the community.

Does my story have to be non-fiction?

Yes, either non-fiction or at least a dramatization of a true story to which you have a personal connection. But there are lots of great story possibilities here.

Does my story need to have a Japanese or Canadian component?

Ideally, both.

How will stories be selected?

As other site members rate your pitch, your ranking will be recorded on the Charts page. The top stories as selected by the community will be referred to our Advisory Board for a final thumbs-up.