Viz Promotes Hyoe Narita To President of Viz Media Europe

Viz Media Europe is proud to announce that Hyoe Narita, previously Executive Vice President at Viz Media, LLC in San Francisco, will become the new President of Viz Media Europe (VME) from December 1, 2011.

After five years in his function as President of VME, John Easum, will be stepping down at the end of November to pursue new initiatives. Under Easum’s leadership, VME was established in January 2007. Easum was instrumental in building VME’s presence and implementing VME’s strategy of growing the European market for VIZ’s animation and manga properties. From December, he will be moving to Tokyo where he will continue to provide services to the manga and anime industries.

Narita has been appointed as Easum’s successor and will assume the role of President of VME from December 1. Narita will be responsible for managing the day-to-day operations in Europe along with Cedric Littardi, Managing Director of Kazé, and Nicolas Weber Krebs, Managing Director of Viz Media Switzerland.

Narita has dedicated his career to growing markets for Japanese content and entertainment. After nine years in Japan, working in the publishing industry for Shogakukan, Inc., he has spent the last nine years at Viz Media, LLC in San Francisco, helping Viz Media become a market leader in manga distribution and ensuring that the latest in Japanese manga is made available to U.S. readers.

With this experience and his passion for Japanese pop culture, Narita intends to bring strong support to VME in the coming years.