'Manga' culture drawing devotees as it gains global foothold
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
WADING through Tokyo's crowded shops crammed with the latest cartoons and animation DVDs, 20-year-old Charles Mortreuil clicks his camera feverishly as he finally performs a pilgrimage he has dreamt of all his life.
Having grown up on a diet of anime as Japanese animations are called, and manga cartoons, the young Frenchman has an expert's knowledge of Japanese subculture and carefully selects DVDs to add to his collection of hundreds.
"I have been fantasising about Japan for a long time through what I read and watch, and I was eager to see the real Japan with my own eyes," says Mortreuil, who works for a French toy company.
"Japanese people have a wonderful imagination, coming up with such a countless number of story ideas and drawing designs. It is amazing."
Mortreuil is no accidental pilgrim. He is one of a growing number of foreigners who are flocking to Tokyo as Japanese subculture gains a foothold around the world.
The visitors range from Westerners like Montreuil on tailored tours to a growing number of Asians who have found a cultural home here, part of a younger generation raised on Japan's manga cartoons and anime.
Central to their obsession is Akihabara, the Tokyo haven for geeky compulsive hobbyists known in Japanese as otaku which offers everything from gadget stores to cafes where waitresses dress as video-game characters.
Lika Toriumi has arranged tours of Akihabara for European otaku for the past four years after being taken by surprise by their enthusiasm at a manga and anime event in Paris.
"I was shocked to see how passionate they were. I knew then that manga and anime would gain great power and influence in the near future," Toriumi says.
"I hope that people in Japan can understand how exciting this is."
The government, at least, has been eager to use subculture to promote Japan's image, which in some Asian countries remains tarnished by enduring memories of atrocities committed during World War II.
Japan recently announced the creation of an international prize for foreign manga artists.
Tatsaneepoin Pumeechaiwong, a 20-year-old Thai who goes by the nickname Joy, says the pull of otaku culture was so powerful that she dropped out of university back home after studying marketing for two years.
"It wasn't easy for me to come here because if you don't have a diploma from a university, you will be a loser in Thailand. My family was worried so much about me, but I kept saying everyday that I wanted to go to Japan," she says.
Fellow Thai student Minaphinant Thunvaphoom, who is 23 and calls himself Tim, enrolled at Nippon Engineering College here in hopes of becoming a professional character designer, despite a limited Japanese language ability.
He timidly confides that his family was at first reluctant but came to accept that young people have other ideas.
"In Thailand, people think that anime is only for kids. So did my father. But he knows himself that as you get old, you cannot just what you want, so he let me come here to do what I truly want."
Taiwanese student Hong Yi-Chun, 25, is moved to tears as she tells her manga story.
"I graduated from university in Taiwan where I studied insurance but I wanted to find the opportunity to study what I really care about, so I came here. I am totally fascinated by the greatness of Japanese manga," she says.
"But sometimes it is painful to think how worried by parents are about me and I feel so sorry for that."
Nobuyoshi Kurita, a sociologist at Musashi University, expects the generation gap to close as manga grows in international popularity.
In Japan, even older people have experience with manga, with their reading experience running the gamut from the manga classics of Osamu Tezuka to the best-selling Doraemon series.
"It is similar to Westerners listening to and identifying with pop music.
"Just like pop music delivers messages to everybody who understands the language, manga can also be considered a cultural language able to send messages to anybody who is 'literate'," he says.
Japanese video-game maker Nintendo has found strong markets both in Japan and in the United States with its "brain-training" games, which target an older demographic rather than youngsters.
"When Nintendo targetted adults for the first time with a video game, it became a huge hit. It's the same deal for manga and anime," Kurita says.
"Traditionally, Japanese society doesn't draw a line between adults and kids, while the West tends to separate them strictly, and that makes Japanese manga and anime unique."
In one effort to reach out to foreign fans, Akihabara last year opened the Tokyo Anime Centre, billed as the first anime hub to also offers guidance in various languages to otaku tourists.
Designed by Masakazu Kubo, creator of the Pokemon pocket monster phenomenon, the Tokyo Anime Centre received more than 300,000 visitors last year, although only four per cent were from abroad.
Kurita says Japan needs to reach out further to foreign otaku.
As other nations prove to be growing industrial competitors to Japan, the subculture of Akihabara known locally as Akiba could prove just as distinctive an export as Toyota or Honda, he says.
"Manga and anime are the hottest products Japan has today at a time when other countries like China and India are rearing their heads as industrial monsters," he says.
"Government and politicians should use them effectively for Japan's national interests because this Akiba culture will certainly sustain Japan's future." AFP
Having grown up on a diet of anime as Japanese animations are called, and manga cartoons, the young Frenchman has an expert's knowledge of Japanese subculture and carefully selects DVDs to add to his collection of hundreds.
"I have been fantasising about Japan for a long time through what I read and watch, and I was eager to see the real Japan with my own eyes," says Mortreuil, who works for a French toy company.
"Japanese people have a wonderful imagination, coming up with such a countless number of story ideas and drawing designs. It is amazing."
Mortreuil is no accidental pilgrim. He is one of a growing number of foreigners who are flocking to Tokyo as Japanese subculture gains a foothold around the world.
The visitors range from Westerners like Montreuil on tailored tours to a growing number of Asians who have found a cultural home here, part of a younger generation raised on Japan's manga cartoons and anime.
Central to their obsession is Akihabara, the Tokyo haven for geeky compulsive hobbyists known in Japanese as otaku which offers everything from gadget stores to cafes where waitresses dress as video-game characters.
Lika Toriumi has arranged tours of Akihabara for European otaku for the past four years after being taken by surprise by their enthusiasm at a manga and anime event in Paris.
"I was shocked to see how passionate they were. I knew then that manga and anime would gain great power and influence in the near future," Toriumi says.
"I hope that people in Japan can understand how exciting this is."
The government, at least, has been eager to use subculture to promote Japan's image, which in some Asian countries remains tarnished by enduring memories of atrocities committed during World War II.
Japan recently announced the creation of an international prize for foreign manga artists.
Tatsaneepoin Pumeechaiwong, a 20-year-old Thai who goes by the nickname Joy, says the pull of otaku culture was so powerful that she dropped out of university back home after studying marketing for two years.
"It wasn't easy for me to come here because if you don't have a diploma from a university, you will be a loser in Thailand. My family was worried so much about me, but I kept saying everyday that I wanted to go to Japan," she says.
Fellow Thai student Minaphinant Thunvaphoom, who is 23 and calls himself Tim, enrolled at Nippon Engineering College here in hopes of becoming a professional character designer, despite a limited Japanese language ability.
He timidly confides that his family was at first reluctant but came to accept that young people have other ideas.
"In Thailand, people think that anime is only for kids. So did my father. But he knows himself that as you get old, you cannot just what you want, so he let me come here to do what I truly want."
Taiwanese student Hong Yi-Chun, 25, is moved to tears as she tells her manga story.
"I graduated from university in Taiwan where I studied insurance but I wanted to find the opportunity to study what I really care about, so I came here. I am totally fascinated by the greatness of Japanese manga," she says.
"But sometimes it is painful to think how worried by parents are about me and I feel so sorry for that."
Nobuyoshi Kurita, a sociologist at Musashi University, expects the generation gap to close as manga grows in international popularity.
In Japan, even older people have experience with manga, with their reading experience running the gamut from the manga classics of Osamu Tezuka to the best-selling Doraemon series.
"It is similar to Westerners listening to and identifying with pop music.
"Just like pop music delivers messages to everybody who understands the language, manga can also be considered a cultural language able to send messages to anybody who is 'literate'," he says.
Japanese video-game maker Nintendo has found strong markets both in Japan and in the United States with its "brain-training" games, which target an older demographic rather than youngsters.
"When Nintendo targetted adults for the first time with a video game, it became a huge hit. It's the same deal for manga and anime," Kurita says.
"Traditionally, Japanese society doesn't draw a line between adults and kids, while the West tends to separate them strictly, and that makes Japanese manga and anime unique."
In one effort to reach out to foreign fans, Akihabara last year opened the Tokyo Anime Centre, billed as the first anime hub to also offers guidance in various languages to otaku tourists.
Designed by Masakazu Kubo, creator of the Pokemon pocket monster phenomenon, the Tokyo Anime Centre received more than 300,000 visitors last year, although only four per cent were from abroad.
Kurita says Japan needs to reach out further to foreign otaku.
As other nations prove to be growing industrial competitors to Japan, the subculture of Akihabara known locally as Akiba could prove just as distinctive an export as Toyota or Honda, he says.
"Manga and anime are the hottest products Japan has today at a time when other countries like China and India are rearing their heads as industrial monsters," he says.
"Government and politicians should use them effectively for Japan's national interests because this Akiba culture will certainly sustain Japan's future." AFP
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