Why manga?
Good question. At this point, you’re probably wondering what got me interested in manga in the first place.
I was born in Tokyo, but when my father took a position at MIT, my family moved to Boston, which is where we’ve been ever since. I was still a baby when we came over, so I don’t remember anything of my birthplace. But we spoke Japanese at home, so even my first word, hikouki (airplane), was in Japanese.
It was on a visit to New York City, when I was just a few years old, that I had my first encounter with manga. New York has always had a large Japanese population, so it’s been home to several Japanese bookstores at any given time as far as I can remember. That’s where I discovered and became engrossed in the classic children's manga, Doraemon, and picture books about Japanese folktales, Nihon Mukashibanashi. These days I can get all my Japanese books online, but, back then, the highlights of many travels was visiting Japanese bookstores in major cities like Paris, Dusseldorf, and, of course, Tokyo. For me, those childhood memories seem to have permanently associated bookstores with treasure hunting and manga with treasure.
My ability to speak, read, and write in Japanese owes many thanks to manga and to my parents and grandparents who never hesitated to get me access to these books.
Essentially, I grew up with manga, and always admired the medium for its accessibility and entertainment value. My favorites include Cyborg 009, Black Jack, Orewa Teppei, and Fist of the North Star. I’ve also been heavily inspired by some of the Chinese literature classics like Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Outlaws of the Marsh.
Manga is a well established medium in Japan, as can be seen from the fact that a third of printed books is manga. Men, women, and kids of all ages read manga because there’s not a genre that hasn’t been covered. Erotic manga is very popular (what, you thought manga would be any different?), and you’ll find manga from the most typical of topics such as sports, action adventure, and romantic comedies, to the esoteric, such as competitive sushi cuisine. This is very different from the states, where although superhero movies have been extremely big recently (I loved Spiderman 2 and Batman Begins!), the comic book industry has become relatively minor.
So my strategy is to start out in Japan where the market is much larger and the business models are well established for mangaka to head their own business. That way I can concentrate on my manga and not have to spend too much time promoting my work.
As a child, I was encouraged by my father to do what only I can do. Now that I’m trying to find my own path, I hope to stay true to that guide. The way I see it, individually, we’re all unique in our genetic makeup and our life’s experiences. But whether someone ultimately does what only that person can do depends on what that person ends up doing with his uniqueness.
I was born in Tokyo, but when my father took a position at MIT, my family moved to Boston, which is where we’ve been ever since. I was still a baby when we came over, so I don’t remember anything of my birthplace. But we spoke Japanese at home, so even my first word, hikouki (airplane), was in Japanese.
It was on a visit to New York City, when I was just a few years old, that I had my first encounter with manga. New York has always had a large Japanese population, so it’s been home to several Japanese bookstores at any given time as far as I can remember. That’s where I discovered and became engrossed in the classic children's manga, Doraemon, and picture books about Japanese folktales, Nihon Mukashibanashi. These days I can get all my Japanese books online, but, back then, the highlights of many travels was visiting Japanese bookstores in major cities like Paris, Dusseldorf, and, of course, Tokyo. For me, those childhood memories seem to have permanently associated bookstores with treasure hunting and manga with treasure.
My ability to speak, read, and write in Japanese owes many thanks to manga and to my parents and grandparents who never hesitated to get me access to these books.
Essentially, I grew up with manga, and always admired the medium for its accessibility and entertainment value. My favorites include Cyborg 009, Black Jack, Orewa Teppei, and Fist of the North Star. I’ve also been heavily inspired by some of the Chinese literature classics like Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Outlaws of the Marsh.
Manga is a well established medium in Japan, as can be seen from the fact that a third of printed books is manga. Men, women, and kids of all ages read manga because there’s not a genre that hasn’t been covered. Erotic manga is very popular (what, you thought manga would be any different?), and you’ll find manga from the most typical of topics such as sports, action adventure, and romantic comedies, to the esoteric, such as competitive sushi cuisine. This is very different from the states, where although superhero movies have been extremely big recently (I loved Spiderman 2 and Batman Begins!), the comic book industry has become relatively minor.
So my strategy is to start out in Japan where the market is much larger and the business models are well established for mangaka to head their own business. That way I can concentrate on my manga and not have to spend too much time promoting my work.
As a child, I was encouraged by my father to do what only I can do. Now that I’m trying to find my own path, I hope to stay true to that guide. The way I see it, individually, we’re all unique in our genetic makeup and our life’s experiences. But whether someone ultimately does what only that person can do depends on what that person ends up doing with his uniqueness.
posted by Kaz at 12:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home