Monk manga

Hachoiji, Japan - A manga marketing strategy is being used by the late-16th century Ryohoji temple. The Buddhist temple put up a manga-inspired sign at the entrance and has girls clad in maids outfits as greeters in an attempt to use Japanese pop culture to bring in more visitors and generate more interest. Manga is a form of Japanese comics and usually associated with certain stylistic traits. "I'm a manga generation who grew up watching them on television. I have little resistance to manga....I wanted to tell the people that temples are a fun place to visit," said Shoko Nakazato, the temple's head monk. 

To date, it has proved a success. Previously, the temple had no visitors on a weekday but now it counts around 30 people. "I came over because this temple has been the talk of the Net," said Mitsutaka Adachi, a 26-year-old telecom software programmer, one of many first-time visitors to the ancient temple. Ryohoji is also selling a card with cartoon characters which allows buyers to download three-minute motion pictures on to their mobile phones of chief monk Nakazato chanting prayers.