Boy meets world: the worldview ofShōnen kurabuin the 1930s (original) (raw)
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Japan and Southeast Asia: Continuity and Change in Modern Times, 2014
During the 1930's, a period of flux in Japan, two comic series were published in a popular monthly magazine for boys called Shônen Kurabu (少年倶楽部). The first one is the work of Shimada Keizô (島田啓三) entitled Bôken Dankichi (冒険ダン吉) or “The Adventurous Boy, Dankichi.” The series revolves around the adventures of a Japanese boy named Dankichi who accidentally drifts to the “South Seas” and becomes king. The second is Tagawa Suihô's (田河水泡) Norakuro (のらくろ) series. The main character of this series is a stray dog named Norakuro who enters the Japanese army and despite his foibles is promoted to Captain. The campaigns of his troop have them fight against various creatures and would eventually lead them to China. In both instances, the stories portray a form of adventure somewhere and an encounter with somebody or somebodies. In the case of Dankichi, an island in the South Seas with his “Dankichi Tribe” and with Norakuro, his campaigns and his enemies. Young Japanese boys would eagerly purchase the magazine to find out what had happened to their heroes, where they ended up this time or did they win against so-and-so. In the process, these children develop an image of the worlds of Dankichi and Norakuro. Through a study of a popular medium, such as comics, which was utilized to propagate the imageries, one can understand the machinations of Japanese society during the 1930's. Using the comic series, the paper would like to study and analyze how the “other” was illustrated and depicted in the stories in the hopes of uncovering whether the consumption of these representations had an impact on Japanese society during the 1930's.
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Originally intended to be a leisurely comic strip with paintings and pictorial representations, manga has emerged as a 'soft power' of modern-day Japan. As the world's largest manga exporter today, the country is considered to be a manga superpower. Its influence on a fanbase spread across the globe has proved to be a noteworthy component in developing cross-cultural empathy within the readers. Despite its traction, the genre entered the literati only recently. Many researchers have analysed the influence of Japanese traditions, history as well as culture upon modern-day manga and their adaptations. Several researchers have also attempted to study the intercultural translation of manga and the influence of manga across countries. The growing emergence of cultural studies as a field of enquiry and manga as a cultural and literary product provides the base for the current article. With the country's hybrid culture filled with urban and modern legends, myths, traditions and folklore, most of the stories created in manga are steeped in indigenous culture and are combined with modern lifestyle to create a unique reading experience. This renders these graphic novels as cultural products of manga, which are commodified and read throughout the world. The present article acts as a review of contemporary research in the field of manga as a cultural product and identifies its relevance in spreading Japanese cultural identity, thereby contributing to a global cultural identity. The study opens up new lenses to look at manga as cultural products of the 21st century and broadens the scope of recognizing individual and collective manga series for further research as expounders of Japanese cultural identity.
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MANGA: INVISIBLE CULTURAL ‘IMPERIALISM’ THROUGH POPULAR MEDIUM
The medium of comics is mostly known as popular culture medium, kids’ stuff with their spandex superheroes, often sneered and looked down. However, through its long history, comics had proven to be contagious and influential medium toward the society, but unfortunately in the negative side. In United States of America (USA), the anti-comics movement led by Dr. Frederick Wertham accused that comics had bad and dangerous influence towards its young readers. This movement had brought comic in becoming public enemy number one in the past. Although people seem to see only the negative impact of this medium, on the contrary there is also the positive side. The power within comic is enormous, but unlike the tsunami-like power that could devastate anything on its path, comic’s power is unlikely otherwise: powerful yet penetrate in silent even to other culture and society as shown through the expansive ‘export’ of Japanese comics, known as manga. Manga nowadays is known in most part of the world, especially in the South East Asia region. Imported as entertainment medium, manga influence could easily be seen in these countries, especially in Indonesia. Not only it proved to be booming in sales in these ‘foreign’ countries, manga also succeeded in penetrating to their culture, by creating devoted readers turn artists with manga-esque style and storytelling. The majority of young people in Indonesia now draw in this popular manga-esque style, following their favorite manga artists. Furthermore, it also changed how these people ways of reading: from left to right becoming right to left, creating the pretty boys genre in another medium and in the society itself. Unlike other popular culture medium (such as television) that its influence is clearly shown and catch the attention of people who rise against it, comic had proved otherwise. This paper is intended to observe how this phenomenon happened through qualitative analysis of comic culture (especially manga), the content within manga and its powerful and cultural influence with a case study of Indonesia.
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EASPAC: Electronic Journal of Asian Studies, 2002
In Japan in 1955, 23-year-old writer Ishihara Shintaro created a sensation with the publication of Taiyo no kisetsu [Season of the Sun], a novel which seemed to both reflect and define the idleness, casual sexuality and aimless violence of the first generation to grow up in the aftermath of World War II. By 1956, Nikkatsu Studios had made the novel into a successful movie, and the generation of teenagers depicted in the novel and the movie became known as the “taiyozoku,” or sun tribe. The summer of 1956 became known as the heyday of the “taiyozoku boom” (Harada 38). In the same year, Shintaro wrote another novel about the taiyozoku, Kurutta kajitsu [Crazy Fruit], which was also made into a film, this time starring his younger brother, Yujiro. Although it was controversial for its depictions of sex and violence, the film was a huge hit. Even more than his older brother, Yujiro became a new ideal of young male identity. In this article, I will examine these two novels and the accompanying films as a series of related cultural events that addressed a specific audience, namely, teenage boys in post-Occupation Japan.