The Representation of Japanese Politics in Manga: The Visual Literacy Of Statecraft (Routledge/Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) East Asian Series)

This edited volume explores political motives, discourses and agendas in Japanese manga and graphic art with the objective of highlighting the agency of Japanese and wider Asian story-telling traditions within the context of global political traditions. Highly illustrated chapters presented here investigate the multifaceted relationship between Japan’s political storytelling practices, media and bureaucratic discourse, as played out between both the visual arts and modern pop-cultural authors. From pioneering cartoonist Tezuka Osamu, contemporary manga artists such as Kotobuki Shiriagari and Fumiyo Kōno, to videogames and everyday merchandise, a wealth of source material is analysed using cross-genre techniques. Furthermore, the book resists claims that manga, unlike the __bandes dessinées__ and American superhero comic traditions, is apolitical. On the contrary, contributors demonstrate that manga and the mediality of graphic arts have begun to actively incorporate political discourses, undermining hegemonic cultural constructs that support either the status quo, or emerging brands of neonationalism in Japanese society. __The Representation of Politics in Manga__ will be a dynamic resource for students and scholars of Japanese studies, media and popular cultural studies, as well as practitioners in the graphic arts. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 List of figures 8 Notes on contributors 11 Foreword 15 Acknowledgements 17 Chapter 1: Introduction: the political potential of manga 18 Manga and politics – the visual literacy of statecraft 18 Prolegomenon: are manga political? From the political cartoons to the politics of graphic art 19 Educational versus political manga 21 A brief history of politics in Japanese manga 22 From local to global cartoon controversies: a brief dialectic 25 Japan’s own cartoon affair: Toshiko Hasumi and the Syrian refugee affair 28 Manga as overt political artefact 29 Conclusion 31 Chapter overview 32 Notes 38 References 40 Chapter 2: Re-envisioning the Dark Valley and the decline of the peace state 44 Introduction 44 Media and memory 45 Fan discussions on the intersection of pop culture and politics 46 The Asia–Pacific War era in manga 47 February 26th in fantasy manga 48 Fantasy Februaries and the narrative allure of conspiracy and coups d’état 49 Potential policy implications 54 Conclusion 57 Notes 58 References 60 Chapter 3: Kobayashi Yoshinori’s just war and unjust peace: Sensō ron, arrogant-ismand selective memory 63 Introduction 63 Purity, righteousness, and beauty in Kobayashi’s—and Japan’s—just war 64 The just war’s unjust peace and resulting societal breakdown 69 Kobayashi’s prescription: gōmanism (aka: arrogant-ism) 71 Conclusion: Kobayashi’s fugue state and Shinmin no michi (the path of the subject) 72 Notes 75 References 77 Chapter 4: Sexual politics in manga: Pan-Pan Girls confronting the US occupation, Vietnam War and Japan’s Article 9 revision 79 Introduction 79 Pan-Pan Girls contesting the “workshop of democracy” 82 Pan-Pan Girls advocating anti-Anpo and anti-Vietnam views 88 Pan-Pan Girls sneering at the Article 9 revision 92 Conclusion 97 Notes 97 References 100 Chapter 5: NEETs versus nuns: visualizing the moral panic of Japanese conservatives 103 Introduction 103 Christianity and the historical politics of alterity 104 Overcoming Christianity in Shōnen media 107 Redeeming Christianity in Josei Manga 111 Outgrowing Christianity in Indie Manga 114 Conclusion 116 Notes 117 References 118 Chapter 6: The body political: women and war in Kantai Collection 120 Introduction 120 Gameplay and ideology in Kantai Collection 121 Militarising the female body 123 Roles of women in Kantai Collection 124 Sexual objects and ‘changing fate’: anime and manga adaptations 126 KanColle and right-wing rhetoric 129 Conclusions 132 Notes 133 References 135 Chapter 7: Towards an unrestrained military: manga narratives of the self-defenceforces 138 Introduction 138 Historical background 139 The self-defence forces and popular culture 141 Aozakura: the story of the National Defense Academy 143 Gate: Thus the Japan Self-Defense Forces Fought There 149 Conclusion 153 Notes 154 References 155 Chapter 8: The political representation of Hiroshima in the graphic art of Kōno Fumiyo 158 Introduction 158 Towards a historiography of A-bomb Manga 159 Shattering the taboo of silence 162 Manipulating viewpoints in In This Corner of the World 164 Feminisation of belonging: escaping the nostalgia of furusato 167 In This Corner of the World as a site of parodic trauma 170 Conclusion 172 Notes 173 References 176 Chapter 9: What Tezuka would tell Trump: critiquing Japanese cultural nationalism in Gringo 179 Introduction 179 A new Japanese family circa 1987 181 Fake news 184 Constructing Japaneseness 187 Will the real Japanese please stand up? 189 Conclusion: make Japan great again 192 Notes 195 References 197 Chapter 10: Questioning the politics of popular culture: Tatsuta Kazuto’s manga 1F and the national discourse on 3/11 200 Introduction 200 The ‘reality’ of Fukushima 201 A worker’s view from inside Fukushima 203 Behind the mask, behind the curtain 207 The red line of depiction 209 Politics of manga in the wake of 3/11 211 Notes 214 References 217 Chapter 11: Database nationalism: the disaggregation of nation, nationalism and symbol in pop culture 220 Introduction 220 Japanese nationalism(s) 221 Database nationalism 225 The Otaku self-defenseforces: database nationalism in Gēto 230 Magical girls at war: database national symbols in Sutoraiku witchīzu 233 Conclusion 236 Notes 237 References 238 Chapter 12: Envisioning nuclear futures: Shiriagari Kotobuki’s 3/11 manga from hope to despair 240 Images of the nuclear in Manga Since That Day 241 Making radiation visible 245 Recourse to history: from Hiroshima to Chernobyl 248 The invisible and the unspeakable 254 The invisibility of forgetting 256 Notes 257 References 259 Chapter 13: Kokoro: civic epistemology of self-knowledge in Japanese war-themed manga 262 Precedents of Kokoro in literature and social science research 263 Illustrating distortion through the traitor discourse 265 Kokoro as a civic epistemology of self-knowledge 267 Barefoot Gen: the vita activa of kokoro 268 Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths: the vita contemplativa of kokoro 270 Message to Adolf: problematising kokoro 272 Conclusion 275 Notes 277 References 279 Chapter 14: In conclusion: Abenomics, Trumpism and manga 282 Notes 290 References 292 Index 294 "This edited volume explores political motives, discourses and agendas in Japanese manga and graphic art with the objective of highlighting the agency of Japanese and wider Asian story-telling traditions within the context of global political traditions. Highly illustrated chapters presented here investigate the multifaceted relationship between Japan's political storytelling practices, media and bureaucratic discourse, as played out between both the visual arts and modern pop-cultural authors. From pioneering cartoonist Tezuka Osamu, contemporary manga artists such as Kotobuki Shiriagari and Fumiyo Kōno, to videogames and everyday merchandise, a wealth of source material is analysed using cross-genre techniques. Furthermore, the book resists claims that manga, unlike the bandes dessinées and American superhero comic traditions, is apolitical. On the contrary, contributors demonstrate that manga and the mediality of graphic arts have begun to actively incorporate political discourses, undermining hegemonic cultural constructs that support either the status quo, or emerging brands of neonationalism in Japanese society. The Representation of Politics in Manga will be a dynamic resource for students and scholars of Japanese studies, media and popular cultural studies, as well as practitioners in the graphic arts"-- Provided by publisher "This edited volume explores political motives, discourses and agendas in Japanese manga and graphic art with the objective of highlighting the agency of Japanese and wider Asian story-telling traditions within the context of global political traditions. Highly illustrated chapters presented here investigate the multifaceted relationship between Japan's political storytelling practices, media and bureaucratic discourse, as played out between both the visual arts and modern pop-cultural authors. From pioneering cartoonist Tezuka Osamu, contemporary manga artists such as Kotobuki Shiriagari and Fumiyo Ko no, to videogames and everyday merchandise, a wealth of source material is analysed using cross-genre techniques. Furthermore, the book resists claims that manga, unlike the bandes dessine es and American superhero comic traditions, is apolitical. On the contrary, contributors demonstrate that manga and the mediality of graphic arts have begun to actively incorporate political discourses, undermining hegemonic cultural constructs that support either the status quo, or emerging brands of neonationalism in Japanese society. The Representation of Politics in Manga will be a dynamic resource for students and scholars of Japanese studies, media and popular cultural studies, as well as practitioners in the graphic arts"--