Tokyo Disneyland Maps, Osamu Tezuka and The Lion King
Welcome to my Japanese Design Inspiration Blog! Japanese art and design from my childhood often inspires my graphic design and illustration work. I hope you find some new artists and designers that you love too!
Tokyo Disneyland Map Designs
I recently designed and illustrated a map for NZ music festival, Beacon Festival. A big inspiration behind this particular design was the illustrated maps from Tokyo Disneyland. As a half Japanese kid, Tokyo Disneyland was my absolute favourite place on earth! I was absolutely obsessed! I have vivid memories of the excitement that would rush over me when given a map upon entering the park.
My dinner time placemat was a Tokyo Disneyland map, and as I looked at this piece of art every single evening, I dreamed of creating my own one day.
Here are some examples of how awesome these maps were, and still are. The yellow one was my placemat in the 80s! Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks these illustrated maps are iconic - an official book celebrating and showcasing them was published last year :)
In my experience, some people who are passionate about Japanese manga, anime, art and design can be a bit snobby about Disney. The thing is, Disney was a significant inspiration for many Japanese manga and anime artists. Most Japanese have a soft spot and respect for Disney.
Did Disney Steal The Lion King?
A well known Disney fan is the god of manga himself, Osamu Tezuka (of Astro Boy fame). He created manga comics called Kimba the White Lion in the 1950s. The animated film of Kimba was first shown in Japan in 1965 and in America from 1966.
In 1989 Disney released The Lion King which many called a plagiarism of Kimba the White Lion. The similarity was not just in the plot and characters, but even how key scenes were drawn.
The Lion King was released a year after Osamu Tezuka’s passing. A group of Japanese comic artists and animators headed by Fujiko Fujio (creator of Doraemon and many other iconic manga/anime) penned a letter to Disney. In reply, Disney insisted that the inspiration behind The Lion King was Disney’s Bambi and Shakespeare’s Othello. They said they’d never seen Kimba, which is interesting as it was reasonably well known in America by the late 80s!
Osamu Tezuka’s family decided against taking the matter further because Tezuka was such a massive Disney fan. In fact, he often spoke of how Bambi was the inspiration behind Kimba the White Lion. If you watch some of his early (experimental) animated works, stylistically, they are very Steam Boat Mickey inspired. They thought if Osamu knew of The Lion King, he would probably be flattered.
Blatant plagiarism is the worst, and I guess Disney were lucky that Tezuka was a big fan. I do love how inspiration can come from different corners of the world though, and then back again, it’s like a game of Chinese Whispers where the end message can be really interesting. This happens not just with art, but food, music and language to name a few. I’m not sure if it’s because of my multicultural upbringing, but I find cultural hybrid creations so exciting!
Although I’m not as passionate about Disney as I was in my childhood, every now and then I come across a classic Disney image that will take me right back to my former favourite place on Earth, Tokyo Disneyland.
About Natalie Ex Design Studio
Hello, my name is Nat. I’m a qualified and experienced Illustrator and Graphic Designer in Melbourne. I have a Bachelor of Visual Communication Design and over 18 years of industry experience in illustration, graphic design and digital marketing.