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The article discusses Yoshiko Okuyama's book, "Tōjisha Manga: Japan's Graphic Memoirs of Brain and Mental Health," which explores the genre of tōjisha manga and its ability to depict the lived experiences of individuals with mental and neurological conditions. Okuyama argues that tōjisha manga humanizes these conditions and challenges ableist thinking. The book includes case studies of five tōjisha manga series and examines their use of visual language and collaboration between creators and individuals with lived experiences. The article praises Okuyama's use of images and accessible writing style, and suggests that the book would be valuable for university libraries and classrooms discussing disability and graphic memoirs. [Extracted from the article]

Japanese anime has continued to gain recognition as one of the strongest cultural influences in a globalized world. We examine how the transnational process of decontextualization-recontextualization can shift the messages of popular culture texts as situated in differing collective memories. To highlight this process, we analyze Shingeki no Kyojin (known to English-speaking audiences as Attack on Titan). Shingeki no Kyojin provides insightful grounds for analysis given its tremendous popularity in both Japan and beyond, its message of resistance against U.S. militarism, and its recontextualized uptake by the American alt-right, even including an Arizona congressman. Our analysis reveals the importance of understanding popular culture alongside context and the impact of decontextualized-recontextualized transformations of meaning on transnational processes of collective memory discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In April 2022, a first-year PhD student published his first peer-reviewed article in the journal Qualitative Research. Less than four months later, amid viral public outrage, that article, Karl Andersson's "I am not alone – we are all alone: Using masturbation as an ethnographic method in research on shota subculture in Japan," was removed from publication and formally retracted by the Journal Editors. This paper explores the controversy surrounding the so-called "masturbation article" and its relevance to the field of publishing studies. I begin with a general overview of the shota manga genre and its legal context and provide a factual short history of the affair. I then demonstrate what a good-faith positive peer review of Andersson's article may have included and critically assess Qualitative Research's Retraction Notice, alongside other published ethical complaints. I conclude by showing how both Andersson's article and the Japanese manga he studies have been censored for the same reasons, with troubling implications for freedom of speech in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the complex positioning of manga within the academic discourse on "Japanese popular culture," examining the challenges posed by cultural and linguistic boundaries. It highlights the historical transformation of the term "popular culture" in English and Japanese, emphasizing the need to recognize the specific situatedness of Japanese terms and intercultural discrepancies in the study of manga.

This article analyzes depictions of work in postmillennial Japanese media, particularly anime and manga, in order to theorize the function of imaginative responses to the social dislocations of neoliberalism. Critical studies of precarity in Japanese popular culture have tended to treat depictions of work as direct representations of actual socioeconomic conditions, overlooking the affective, experiential dimensions of mediated work images and their potential for imagining social relations beyond imposed precarity. The article explores this neglected potential by focusing on the anime and manga trope of isekai (other‐world), which depicts life and work in a fantastic environment. These depictions are compared with analogues in live‐action films and television during the period of Japan's neoliberalization. Invoking philosophical concepts of social imagination and drawing on autonomist theory for inspiration regarding the visualization of postcapitalist sociality, analysis will demonstrate how their imaginative responses can produce visions of collectivity amenable to postcapitalist projects without explicitly political content. The article hopes to draw out latent capacities within superficially escapist media forms and offer a possible counternarrative to pessimistic discourses about popular culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Mirai. Estudios Japoneses is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The popularity of Japanese comics or better known as manga had reach worldwide. The production of the manga had also led to the creation of derivative products such as animated series and doujinshi. However, most readers outside Japan accessed these media in a translated format that is published independently from the original publisher. As such, many of the readers might not know the distribution system of the original media. In this paper, we discussed the distribution of manga and doujinshi in Japan. These include discussions regarding the general overview of the manga industry, the different types of published manga and doujinshi, as well as their distribution system. Lastly, this paper also discussed briefly what is the unique characteristic of the Japanese manga and doujinshi industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an emerging debate about the role and importance of women in right-wing nationalist movements. Drawing on research that highlights the need to study such women as active and complex political agents, this article examines a phenomenon that has previously received little attention—the activism of female Japanese nationalists. We approach the question of how such activism is practiced by analyzing a group interview with female nationalists, a nationalist manga centering on women's experiences, and autobiographic books on such activism by and for Japanese women. The article contributes by arguing that female nationalist agency in Japan is a complex phenomenon, which is enacted through everyday micro-practices. It outlines how female nationalist activism draws upon and enhances, as well as challenges and transcends, a traditional Japanese "housewife identity." As such, the female Japanese nationalist is imagined as having access to certain truths. She takes on the role of "truth-teller," who is playing a strategic role in "waking people up" to the nationalist cause by voicing anger but also making space for a more "joyful," "cute," and inconspicuous everyday activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Koiwa Mihoko’s mainstream shōjo manga (girls’ comic) Midnight Cinderella ("Mayonaka no Shinderera"). The author discusses Japanese girl culture, examines the history of femme fatale figures in detective and noir fiction, and explores how shōjo manga, popular culture, and girls' culture intersect both inside and outside of Japan.

Copyright of Mirai. Estudios Japoneses is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In Shintoism, the indigenous religion of Japan, the term kami, is simply used for anything possessing supernatural power or force. However, the term is more complex than that, which is identified with belief in God. In this regard, “Shinto gods” are broadly called kami. For this reason, many researchers defined this belief as polytheist, pantheist, animist, shamanist so forth. Basically, the reason behind this kind of characterizations for the belief in God in Shintoism is originated from the concept of kami, which has different meanings such as the good and bad spirits that are believed to exist in the sky, the spirits of ancestors, and evils. In addition, the spirits of dead people are also regarded as kami and are blessed by their families. However, the meaning of this concept cannot fairly be understood without knowing its context and how it is used in a sentence. It is believed that kami can provide benefits and cause negative impacts to individuals in all aspects of their lives. Regarding this belief, kami has noticeable effects on Japanese social life. For instance, it is noteworthy that the crime rates in Japanese society are low compared to other developed countries. In addition, it is possible to see the reflections of this belief in every field of life from literature to cinema and architecture to art. In this sense, scenarists and writers in Japan engaged in the kami belief with the themes of their works. For instance, in Japanese comic book “Manga”, which is identified with Japan and in the cartoon movie industry has employed kamis for different purposes; such as instilling religious knowledge and morality, giving various messages, scaring and warning. Apparently, the role of kami in Japanese people’s moral behaviors also takes an important place by virtue of practicing worships and conducting ceremonies. Depending on these eminent aspects of kami effects on Japanese people’s ethical life, it can be interpreted that kami implements psychological well-being. It can be said that these faith-based worship and behaviors make a great contribution to believers. In Shintoism, the manifestation of God in the form of both human and other beings, and the understanding that people become deified if they die by doing good deeds in their lives, are quite different from religions such as Islam and Judaism that separate God and other beings ontologically with sharper lines. This transitivity between beings has helped people who adopt this religion to avoid hurting all beings. In this study, we aimed to analyze the effects of the notion of God in Shintoism on Japanese social life with the phenomenological and descriptive method that is frequently used in the history of religions. Therefore, in our study, the nature of the term kami has been respectively discussed in the context of its essence with the belief in God, as well as the function of this belief in worship and religious festivals, which is observed to be practiced frequently. Lastly, the effects of kami on the social lives of those who believe in Shintoism has been emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Mirai. Estudios Japoneses is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article focuses on detective fiction tourism, specifically the mystery tour associated with the Japanese comics and animated series "Detective Conan." The author discusses the connection between real space and fictional space, analyses how the tour was constructed, and examines the link between tourists and destinations.

An introduction to a series of articles on the shift of moral codes against sexual expression in contemporary Japanese manga is presented with topics including censorship of sexual expression in artworks, regulation of sexual expression and distribution in public and social construction of moral panic debates.

The article explores the influence of Japanese manga in Spain, considering the works of Spanish authors and artists. It highlights the generations of manga artists in Spain classified into groups, including those born between 1970 and the beginning of 1980 classified as precursors of the first manga and anime and pioneers in drawing short comics, those born after the 1980s who consumed fanzines and gained popularity via Internet and those born after 1990 who specialized outreach publications.

In the article, the author discusses the social functions and effects of popular manga in contemporary Japan by examining the serialized manga "Golden Kamuy" by Satoru Noda. The manga was published in the weekly comic magazine "Shukan Young Jump" since August 2014. Also cited are the various awards received by Noda for his manga like the Japan Expo Award, and how manga can promote empathy, friendship, and solidarity among its readers.

Copyright of Mirai. Estudios Japoneses is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Online Journal Mundo Asia Pacífico is the property of Universidad EAFIT and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Manga are graphic novels that are considered to have the potential to effectively convey concepts and engage readers. The efficacy of manga has been validated for chemical safety education to students in three universities in Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand. Students were asked to examine a photo to identify hazards and hazardous behaviors that can potentially lead to accidents before and after reading a manga that explains the risk of fires and explosions. The identified hazards/hazardous behaviors were classified into seven categories, and the average number of hazards/hazardous behaviors was determined in each category. The differences before and after the lesson were analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of manga as an educational tool. In the students' answers, in all three of the universities, some common features were observed: Subjects easily identified certain hazardous conditions in the photo, particularly noting deficient or unsuitable personal protective equipment. The hazards/hazardous behaviors that can potentially result in ignitions, fires, and explosions were more likely to be identified after the lesson. Many students found the manga a helpful tool for learning chemical safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to expand the scope of studies of Japaneseshōjo manga(girls’ comics) by examining early 1980s and 1990sshōjo mangathat were primarily targeted at the youngest band of readers, stories with early adolescent heroines in light, romantic, and fairytale-like narratives. These have been paid comparatively little scholarly attention thus far compared with texts that enact more explicit gender subversion, such as stories that feature same-sex male love and cross-dressed fighting girls. We argue, however, that the “maidenesque” (otomechikku) subgenres enact complex and fascinating versions of girlhood. Furthermore, we propose that these neglected manga benefit especially from an analysis that prioritises the visual dimensions ofshōjo manga. We apply these suggestions to our analysis of fashion and aesthetic in heretofore neglected “maidenesque” works by Takase Ryō. Rather than simply maintaining conservative norms of femininity and heterosexual romance, these works explore gender issues within the “safe” trappings of girlishness. Examining the visual and textual dimensions of such works is vital for a more accurate picture of girlhood and gender as it is more broadly imagined inshōjo manga. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers information on the Japanese comic Usury manga and the morality of money in contemporary Japan. Topics discussed include Usury manga reflect Japanese society’s moral confusion over money caused by the personal debt crisis; debt-related crimes became a narrative staple in popular novels, manga and television; and debt developed with the use of money as a means of payment dictate the temporal and spatial separation between buying and selling.

The article discusses varied mass media forms of Japanese shōnen manga, comics designed to appeal to boys ages 4 to 18, focusing particularly on "Toriko," by Shimabukuro Mitsutoshi. The gourmet-battle-fantasy hybrid first appeared in the manga magazine "Weekly Shōnen Jump's" in 2002. Topics include world settings and characters used by alternate sources such as video game designs, anime, television series, motion pictures, and advertisers.

An interview with Japanese manga artist Chikae Ide is presented. She reflects on her 50 year career in manga, commenting on the relationships she has developed, her experience as a female manga artist in the 1960s, and her relationship with editors. Other topics covered include her personal life, finances, and the business side of manga.

This article explores how Japanese comic artists represented the early years of the Chinese Cultural Revolution in popular print culture, especially lowbrow comic magazines. It posits that Japanese cartoonists in their role as both purveyors of everyday humor and keenly observant social commentators employed the imagery and rhetoric of the Red Guard movement to critique the conservative social and economic order of Japanese corporate culture during the late 1960s era of high-speed growth; moreover, it contends that there was a surprisingly receptive audience for such criticism among the rank-and-file “salarymen” of the urban Japanese middle class. Finally, the precisely informed humor found in these comics also suggests that their target audience possessed detailed familiarity with contemporary events on the continent and interpreted those events through a deeply embedded cultural framework of ambivalence concerning modern Chinese society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a case study of the depiction of the March 11, 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan and Japanese politics in the Shōjo (Girls) Manga (Comics) by Japanese comic book artists Yamagishi Ryōko and Hagio Moto, including the manga "Paetōn (Phaëton)," by Ryōko, "Na no hana," by Moto and "Purūto fujin (Mrs. Pluto) by Moto. The relationship the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, Ukraine and the Fukushima nuclear accident is discussed.

This paper analyzes some examples of the interconnections between Zen Buddhism and popular culture, notably manga and movies. In particular, it explores the recent manga Bōzu days (2007-2011) and the movies Fancy Dance (1989) and Abraxas matsuri (2010). In these works, Zen's everyday and down-to-earth character comes to the fore, while zazen meditation occupies a relatively small place. As amply explored by scholarly works over the last few decades, the former aspect is usually overlooked in Zen presentations in the West while the latter is in line with a view of this religious tradition that has been adapted for its dissemination outside of Japan. My analysis aims to shed light on how aspects of popular culture employ Zen Buddhist features to create commercial products that are meant to reach a wide audience, and how Zen Buddhism is represented in these products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Romanian Journal of Journalism & Communication / Revista Română de Jurnalism şi Comunicare- RRJC is the property of Romanian Journal of Journalism & Communication and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the role of Japanese artist Ishinomori Shotaro in providing the blueprint for the rewriting of history in Japanese graphic art. Topics include the position of Ishinomori's graphic analects of Japan in comparison to other graphic histories such as Yokoyama Mitsuteru's "Sangokushi," and the importance of his representation of Japanese history in manga as a new form of literacy in enabling the visualization of historical artifacts in relation to issues of Japanese identity.

The article explores the incarnations of Akutagawa Ryunosuke, a canonical literary writer in Japan, in manga or comic form. Topics include the reputation gained by Akutagawa's writings as a representative of a privileged, highbrow mode of literature based on aesthetic idealism, the depiction of Akutagawa in manga as illustration of how literariness is conceived of in the mass-cultural perspectives of manga, and mangas that depicted Akutagawa including "Bungo Stray Dogs" by Asagiri Kafka.

Cultural treatments of the 1995 Tokyo subway gas attacks perpetrated by Aum Supreme Truth (Aum Shinrikyd) often reference another tumultuous episode that many argue belongs to the same radical impulse in Japanese society: the violent end to the 'extremist period' of the late 1960s and early 1970s, punctuated by the United Red Army's Asama Sanso incident of 1972. Yet while scholarship and the media have sought to contextualize the gas attacks by directly identifying Aum in relation to United Red Army radicalism, the works examined here thematize the unassimilated nature of the extremist period in the Japanese historical imaginary and complicate the construction of referential ties in the narration of these events. Produced in the years following the attacks, two works of manga serialized in the late 1990s and 2000s - Biriibaazu [Believers, 1999] and Nijūseiki Shorten [Twentieth Century Boys, 1999-2006] - represent Aum as a trace of an event that has not been fully assimilated in the cultural consciousness. These two works demonstrate how the largely unclaimed nature of the radical era highlights the problems of transcribing unprocessed events like the United Red Army incident into narrative imaginings of recent Japanese history [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores aspects of otaku practice in Japanese popular culture. It explores the male otaku's attachments in terms of Japanese relations between humans and contemporary technological artefacts. It considers how Japanese traditions of somatic and material conditioning relate to such practice, and proposes the concept of performance as a process of making social meaning. It also illustrates the exchange between the male otaku's gesturing and relations with young girl cartoon image.

Japanese animated films or anime have been popular in the West since the early 1990s. However, media interest in anime (particularly in Britain) has tended to focus on negative representations of anime concerning violence, sexuality and young girls. The current paper undertakes an examination of the genre of 'Lolita complex' or rorikon anime, the focus of these concerns. It is argued that the term 'Lolita' has a culturally specific meaning and that it has a different meaning in Western culture to that in Japan. This has led to a misperception of aspects of Japanese society and its cultural products such as anime. Furthermore it is argued that rorikon anime reflects teenage anxieties about the adult world, and changes in society and gender roles rather than perverse male sexual desire. An examination of the elements of rorikon anime shows that, rather than the product of a cultural 'other', it reflects features common across Japanese and Western cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The popularity of classical ballet as a cultural form grows apace in a global context. Even in a country like Japan, which has not been previously identified as a "ballet capital," it is receiving wide public attention. As a conventionally female-dominated arena, ballet and the ideas that circulate around it reveal the complex interrelationship between femininity, beauty, and selfhood. A prime example is the understudied genre of "ballet manga" in Japanese shōjo manga culture. With the first examples published in the mid-1950s, the history of ballet-themed manga reveals that, particularly in the years following the Second World War, ballet was the epitome of a dream world, connoting luxury, beauty, and glamour. "Ballet manga" used this particular art form, its costumes, and romanticized, almost fairy tale-like settings of Old World Europe as a mix of femininity, rigor, and elegance remade for Japanese audiences. Since the 1970s, some authors have attempted to combine this imagery of ballet with the idea of feminine independence and agency, thus negotiating the paradox of reality and fantasy in lived experience. Ballet, therefore, is not presented simply on the stage but in Japan is frequently interpreted/experienced through shōjo manga. This distinctive situation deserves closer scholarly investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I examine Gekkō Kamen (Moonlight Mask), one of the earliest postwar heroes, as a palimpsest of identity anxieties in postwar Japan. The turban-and-sunglass-wearing, motorcycle-mounted, pistol-toting, shuriken-throwing hero dressed all in white drew as much on Captain America and Superman as it did on Japanese ninja stories and wartime hero stories, such as Golden Bat. Gekkō Kamen was also a template for a new kind of hero with a bike between his knees and a mask over his mouth. In 1958 when the series was launched, it may have been difficult to foresee Gekkō Kamen's future global impact as Capitan Centella, when translated into Spanish, but the local impact was immeasurable. Although the series was canceled after a child died attempting a stunt from the show, the cultural position of Gekkō Kamen continues today and can be seen in as varied venues as Ultraman in the 1960s, the Kamen Rider and Japanese Spiderman TV series of the 1970s, and Go Nagai's spoof Kekkō Kamen, the busty, underwear-clad female superhero. The hybrid and miscegenated figure of Gekkō Kamen represented a new mode of heroic self-identification that carried with it nationalism pitched at the global level rather than national or regional levels. Close examination of the odd identities of the heroes and villains in the 1958 series reveals the fears endemic in the rebuilding nation and bipolar world order. As both a mirror and projector of masks,Gekkō Kamen provides stunning frame for focusing on cold war notions of heroism and bravery. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents the Misshitsu trial as the first obscenity case involving manga in Japan and argues that what is obscene is the capacity of the medium to move readers and not the content of manga. Topics discussed include the need for discussion of comics and obscenity beyond specific content and focus on medium's capacity to move as suggested by Misshitsu trial and the court's decision that any adult wanting to see this kind of manga is already be perverted to find the content acceptable.

The Japanese, just like any other people of the world, love entertainment. In this article we discuss and analyze three kinds of popular, Japanese mass entertainment utilizing a semiotic approach. We are concerned with what and how manga (Japanese comics), pachinko (vertical Japanese pinball machines), and cosplay (costume play) represent and reflect Japanese-ness: its culture, tradition, history, and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]