Staying in Japan
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Manga in Tokyo
by Joel R. Voss aka. Javantea
April 14, 2006 20:56 JST
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Manga is Japanese comics. When I talk about a manga like Shounen Jump, I'm talking about a thick book which has a dozen manga series. When I talk about a manga like Naruto, I'm talking about one of the series. You can buy the thick book if you want to read many series or you can buy a graphic novel of a single series.
There's a full discussion of whether foreign* artists who write manga-style comics are creating comics or manga and whether manga artists are creating comics in Japanese or whether they have an asset in calling it manga. I like to think that manga is a style and an asset which can be created by anyone no matter their nationality. My reasoning is 2 parts: 1) manga can be clearly identified as different from realism-based comics and funnies, and 2) the word comic is diluted, especially in America (where it can mean stand-up comedy, funnies, or realism-based cartoon serials). For example, my manga is Javantea's Fate. Megatokyo is a good example of an American made manga.
* You'll notice certain English words are linked like the word foreign. They are linked to the proper Japanese translation. They also have a tooltip so you can read the translation in tiny print without opening the online Kanji-English dictionary. Disregard these if you aren't interested in learning 1 Japanese word per paragraph.
Read more »Manga in Japan
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Looking for Inspiration in Japan
by Joel R. Voss aka. Javantea
April 14, 2006 20:56 JST
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Tokyo may be a very good place to find inspiration for stories. Foreign stuff that doesn't make sense always makes for good storytelling, but Tokyo has something over most other places: the art of saying stuff without revealing meaning. Some say that this is solved by context, but I disagree. I often consider myself an novice of understanding meaning, but even the masters of deceit could not guess what most of the stuff in Tokyo is really all about. Night Theater: porn or not? Softmap: H-games or not? Sunshine Pachinko: gambling or manga?
It wouldn't be so bad if everything wasn't so well advertised. Certainly you can advertise a restaurant easily enough, but when the advertisement says "Special Service Ticket" and has no recognizable kanji or hiragana, you gotta wonder what the fuck they're selling. Don't let me move away from the topic. This is all tied into the idea of storytelling. Imagine the story of an American tourist who gets a packet of tissue from a nice young lady that advertises "Wonder Party Work" and wanders into a place. He is given a sheet of paper like he has gotten from internet/manga cafes and 5 minutes later they take his kidneys. Certainly you can imagine things from Video Girl AI to Love Hina that start with simple misunderstandings. Misunderstanding is certainly a terrifically interesting way to see a city. Why, what is Lost in Translation all about if not the philosophical journeys of two Americans who don't understand anything?
My favorite store (non-restaurant) in Tokyo is probably not very socially acceptable in America. But I think that since I'm in Japan, I can break the rules a bit while I'm here. When in Rome, they say. This place is an erotic manga store. From a distance, you see books, so you think bookstore. It's a bit funny there isn't the kanji for book in the name. Maybe it's so obvious what they sell they don't need the kanji in the name. I walk in and the first section I see is some of the most hentai of hentai manga I have ever seen. So I move to another section. It's all hentai. There's a tiny section on the far wall where it's live action video (pron). Total misunderstanding, but I have to say, what a nice place. There doesn't exist a nicer store. The old man at the counter is very quiet. The patrons all wear virtual blinders. And the products are indeed fascinating. Let me tell you.. (On second thought, no.)
