Digital Manga, Inc. (DMI) is one of the industry’s most unconventional and innovative companies, specializing in building corporate and cultural bridges from Japan to the Western Hemisphere – specifically through the licensing, importation, and preparation of anime (Japanese animation), manga (Japanese comic books) and related merchandise for the North American mainstream and subculture markets. In this capacity, DMI serves as a catalyst for the expansion of Japanese pop culture institutions into global arenas.

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DMI has pioneered some innovative ventures since it’s inception; one of which is Pop Japan Travel.
Founded in 2003, it was the original and premiere provider of pop culture themed tours of Japan.
Countless group and custom tours with themes focused on Japanese anime, manga, video games, music, and fashion were run.
We partnered with Japan’s most prestigious travel agencies, including IACE Travel, Kintentsu, and JTB, to make sure that the trips went as smoothly as possible.  PJT was the only tour agency to provide exclusive experiences such as visits to anime and game studios, meetings with manga artists or designers, and classes at an actual manga school. 
Some of the sites visited on the tours included:
Gibili Museum, Tezuka Museum, Studio Periot, Toei Animation, Production IG, Mad House, and Tatsunoko Productions.
On every group tour, a friendly, accommodating, knowledgeable, and bilingual guide made sure the experience in Japan is everything the travelers hoped for.
 

A riskier venture for DMI was the proposition and formation of the Digital Manga Guild.
DMI broke away from the constraints of the traditional method of publishing. The standard method involved paying a licensing fee upfront, even before any sales were generated by the licensed title. DMI formed an alliance with several companies with the objective of breaking away from that system.
The infrastructure that was established ensured that licensing fees would only be distributed to publishers once sales came in from the titles. DMI also set up an online system through which members of the public could apply to become part of the localization process for DMG titles. Applications were taken for translation, editing, and lettering and compensation was provided to the chosen applicants based on sales generated from the assignment.
Through this initiative, many fans aspiring to enter into the publishing industry were able to acquire valuable experience.

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Dreamshoppe was another DMI enterprise.  Partnering with clothing companies in Japan, we helped produce cosplay and lolita items which were then sold via an online shop.  This in turn created an opportunity for fans to embody their favorite characters; something that we at DMI were happy to facilitate.