Manga Wars: Nationalism and Anti-Americanism in Japan

From the instant I saw that, I knew it what manga it was from. Hajime no Ippo (Fighting Spirit), one of the best manga/anime ever! it’s an amazing manga.

This smacks more of insecurity than it does of xenophobia, though the two are probably connected. The greater majority of Japanese people don’t see Americans in this light.

I’d like to think that if someone caught this sort of thing in an American comic, they could complain about it and get it taken out of circulation. But not so long ago, American racists got away with stuff like this all the time.

well.. actualy Manga and Comic have different manners of drawing and plot. In Japan “Superman” is not Manga unless its drawed in a style of Manga. (see some starwars mangas and starwars comics). still there are japanese comix like ‘cartoons in the newspapers’ or ‘comics’ drawed by japanese artists. (see Wolverine Snikt!)

so if you want to be absolutly correct use never “japanese comic” when you are meaning Manga. or you will die in a big shitflood made by Otakus and Comic fans..

back in 70′ens some US comic production firms tryed to produce japanese comix under own brand but failed becuz of hard competition in Manga dominated market. so from then its more or less peacefuly coexistence..

Thanks all for your interest in my article.

@Tomojiro

“which focus how Japan is still chauvinistic and in danger to engage in fascisms as soon as “Westerners” lose sight of Japan.”

I would like to draw your attention to the following paragraph which argues the opposite of the type of representation of Japan as chauvinistic and headed toward fascism that you are concerned about.

“In the larger culture, how common are the ideas put forward by Tamogami? Among newspapers, only the Sankei Shimbun, ranked eighth in daily circulation with around 2,000,000 copies sold, consistently articulates these positions. Japan’s leading conservative paper, the Yomiuri Shimbun, by contrast, views the Japanese-American alliance much as Aso does. It has produced high-profile interpretations of history that go against Tamogami’s, and condemned the General’s controversial essay. Some magazines that regularly feature neo-nationalist attacks on Japan’s neighbours have seen sales decline sharply over the past decade. For example, Shūkan Pureiboi (Weekly Playboy) sales fell by 40% between 2001 and 2006. In March 2009, the leading neo-nationalist monthly, Shokun! (Comrades!), announced that it will cease publication because of falling sales. Public surveys also suggest that these voices have limited reach. Neo-nationalists oppose any apology for wartime violence and atrocities. In January of 2007, an Asahi Shimbun poll revealed that contrition is the mainstream attitude with 85% of Japanese agreeing that “apologetic reflection” toward the Asian victims of Japanese aggression is still necessary. A recent survey of Japanese internet users, a group that many thought to be shifting drastically toward neo-nationalist positions, reports that only 1.3% express what can be described as “rightwing” views. This leaves sensationalist tracts, including several bestselling manga like Aso favorite Sensoron and works like Tamogami’s as the main zone for the expression of the neo-nationalist world view.”

The second half of the article attempts to put anti-American images in the context of positive, progressive representations of the international situation in Japan.

I include lines like -

“Despite the circulation of a variety of problematic representations, Japan’s public sphere has no shortage of compelling future visions.”

and

“When searching for hopeful future visions and nuanced war images, Japanese do not need to look abroad or even invent a radically new way of talking about problems. They need look no further than the prolific progressive themes that circulate widely in diverse forms. These ideas thoroughly challenge elite and neo-nationalist assumptions and expose the essential vacuity of many of their claims.”

at important points and these are the main focus of the piece as a whole.

@ weirdo, Maxim, and inuZ

As I try to explain at a number of points, the “anti-Americanism” that I am discussing relates to American as a political/militiary entity, not to individuals as I try to make clear in several passages including -

“America has considerable “soft power” in Japan. Many Japanese are fans of American popular culture from Hollywood and TV to pop music, baseball, and jazz. America remains the top overseas destination for Japanese tourists. It is also the top choice for Japanese who study abroad. Personal connections between individual Japanese and Americans are numerous and some are deep. But many view “America” as a personal and cultural space very differently from the “America” of the Japanese-American alliance.”

I am a big fan of Hajime no Ippo and own all 87 volumes. I admire a lot of what Morikawa does in the series. I believe, however, that the representation of the American occupation and the extent of the violence inflicted on the American character are disturbing. inuZ belives that I am being selective in the parts of the manga that I show, but I also omit the most violent part of the conclusion – the American`s entire rib cage is shattered and he is left writhing on the ground. I also omit page after page of his awful behaviour – his fouls in the ring end the career of Gen`s best friend, in virtually ever scene in which he appears he insults Japanese people and refers to them in negative racial terms. inuZ also writes “regarding that american soldier, i dont think it is very far from the truth, i think the could have been someone like that, but the would have been the other kind too.” This is precisely what I deal with in the second half of the article.

Maxim is correct that there are other American characters depicted positively in Hajime no Ippo(although they are eventually vanquished). You also have to admit, however, that I omitted perhaps the most “evil” character in the series, Brian Hawk – an American fighter who took up boxing so that he can legally beat and kill people in the ring. Once again, the article is concerned with political depictions of American and representations of the Japanese-American alliance and the shared history of the two countries. The only section of Hajime no Ippo that deals substantially with this is Gen`s flashback.

weirdo writes – “Most of the scenes this guy chooses depict Americans as bad guys, and at the end he adds a few scenes depicting Americans as good”

After the introduction, I present a quick, silly scan from Hanma Baki and 8 pages from Kohinata and 11 pages from Uramiya. I then present 10 pages from Shirahata no Shojo and 6 from Shirahata no Shonen focused on manga that show balanced representations instead of demonization. It goes 2-2, and 19 pages to 16. I tried for parity. For non-fiction, my positive/progressive discussion was longer.

“when not even a majority of manga depict americans this way.”

I never argue that a majority of manga depict Americans in this way, simply that vague anti-Americanism is prevalent in manga and that it has become more significant since 2000.

For your reference, here is a partial list of titles (including some anime) that contain images like the ones that I discuss in the article.

Ghost in the Shell SAC (Americans skinning children alive in Latin America), GiTS SAC 2nd Gig, Blueseed, The Silent Service, Rainbow, Yami no Aegis, Iliad (a conspiracy theory title based on Homer), Odyssey (not Homer`s), Dawn, Omega Tribe, Kurofune, Aishiteru, Golgo 13, Tough, Kibaken, Abarenbunya, Beck (some out of control US soldiers), Soryuden, Ningen Kosaten, Red, Take 2, Duet, The Golden Earring, Konde Koma, Ai Shiteru, Auction House, Fujimi no Fujinami, Kigyo Senshi Yamazaki, Zero, The Hard, Otoko Juku, Dog Soldier, B.B, Super Doctor K, Aitsu to Rarabai, Godsider, Zaizen Jotaro, Etajima Heihachi Den, Nihonkoku Daitoryo Sakurazaka Mantaro, God Job, etc.

While political content is rarer in titles for younger readers, there are even shonen manga like Break Shot and Tetsuya that depict Americans in this way. The list also leaves off the quite large number of “military fan” titles from publishers like Gakken and depict future wars between Japan and the United States. Still, even after naming all of these, I don`t think that this pattern is necessarily representative, but I do think that it is quite important. In contrast, it is quite hard to think of works that show the Japanese-American alliance in an unambiguously positive light.

This is my opinion.
It’s safe to portray Americans and other “White race” as villain in media for some reason.
Portraying colored people as villain always gets protest from some kind of human rights groups.
For example, Japanese game “Resident Evil(Bio Hazard) 5″, the American hero Chris Redfield kills Black zombies in Africa was accused for racism – as usual.
But the game has white villains too and there’s no accusation for that.

Name one heroic American protagonist in a Japanese manga that isn’t a clown, side kick, or a lady desiring a Japanese male character. You can find British and especially German characters, but never American main cool characters. Japanese comics is strongly anti-american biased even if its subtle. Its disgusting reading stories written by other people who always portray the Americans as weak, stupid, incompetent and violent losers. The USA isn’t that way at all despite liberal Anti-American propaganda otherwise.