CHILDREN love watching animated shows on TV and Lawrence Moshani was no different.
While he was happy to pursue multi-media studies at the University of Joburg, he also saw the opportunity to pursue his childhood dream of a career in animation. His quest has led him to be enrolled for a master’s degree in visual design at Kyoto Seika University, in Kyoto, Japan.
“Since primary school I dreamt of coming to Japan to study animation,” said Lawrence.
He grew up watching animated shows such as Kimba the White Lion and became interested in manga, the Japanese art form of comics. In 2013, he applied for a Japanese government MEXT scholarship.
Those who want to apply for the annual Japanese government MEXT scholarships must have postgraduate qualifications to qualify.
The scholarship covers flights to Japan, tuition and examination fees as well as Japanese language classes. Students study robotics, animation and electrical engineering.
Each scholarship holder gets about R16 860 a month for living expenses, depending on their study level.
Shoji Fujiu, cultural attaché from the Japanese embassy in Pretoria, said they have been taking postgraduate students from Mzansi to Japan to study science, technology, law and literature for the past 20 years.
For more information visit www.za.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_en/MEXT_Scholarship.html.
