Forum - View topicNew York Times Story on Anti-Korean and Anti-Chinese Manga
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daxomni
 Posts: 2650 Location: Somewhere else. |
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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/19/international/asia/19comics.html?incamp=article_popular_1
(Requires free registration, or you can use http://www.bugmenot.com/) We've all heard that the pseudo-Caucasian features common in manga and anime came at least in part from emulation of Western influences, but perhaps that's not quite the whole story in-and-of itself. A recent New York Times article might provide some additional insight into how and when this phenomenon was born and what it might imply about Japanese society today. Here is a bit of the story... But the comic book, perhaps inadvertently, also betrays Japan's conflicted identity, its longstanding feelings of superiority toward Asia and of inferiority toward the West. The Japanese characters in the book are drawn with big eyes, blond hair and Caucasian features; the Koreans are drawn with black hair, narrow eyes and very Asian features. That peculiar aesthetic, so entrenched in pop culture that most Japanese are unaware of it, has its roots in the Meiji Restoration of the late 19th century, when Japanese leaders decided that the best way to stop Western imperialists from reaching here was to emulate them. In 1885, Fukuzawa - who is revered to this day as the intellectual father of modern Japan and adorns the 10,000 yen bill (the rough equivalent of a $100 bill) - wrote "Leaving Asia," the essay that many scholars believe provided the intellectual underpinning of Japan's subsequent invasion and colonization of Asian nations. Fukuzawa bemoaned the fact that Japan's neighbors were hopelessly backward. Writing that "those with bad companions cannot avoid bad reputations," Fukuzawa said Japan should depart from Asia and "cast our lot with the civilized countries of the West." He wrote of Japan's Asian neighbors, "We should deal with them exactly as the Westerners do." As those sentiments took root, the Japanese began acquiring Caucasian features in popular drawing. The biggest change occurred during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 to 1905, when drawings of the war showed Japanese standing taller than Russians, with straight noses and other features that made them look more European than their European enemies. I found this article fascinating and until now I had not heard of either of the books referenced. Feel free to add your own views once you've had a chance to read the entire article. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Firefighters wanted. Get ready.
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daxomni
Posts: 2650 Location: Somewhere else. |
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I don't think I broke any rules with this thread and I'm not trying to litter the forum with troll bait. If the story is bogus or otherwise critically flawed then I hope most posters will be mature enough to explain why and not simply go off on some half-cocked flame fest. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Rule-breaking, no; troll bait, highly possible.
The story is quite true, and there are far more anti-Chinese and anti-Korean manga out there in Japan. It's a joint venture with Westen (mostly American) and Japanese neo-conservatists with youngsters who don't want to mettle with historic burdens committed before their parents were born. These youngsters simply want Japan be stronger and become a "normal country" i.e. with regular armed forces instead of SDF. Sadly, most posters here are not mature enough, and even with those who are and can post decent discussions this thread will inevitably degenerated into a historical and geopolitical debate instead of a manga one. We have had several similar threads before, and I recommend you read through them (but don't resurrect them, please) before opening another can of worms. The worst thing is my tax money goes to his paycheck. What a loyal puppet slave. EDIT: There are two 黃文雄, both SoB: the one who just resigned as a presidential advisor has an English name Peter Huang, the assassin who tried to kill president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), the best president in 60 years. Analogy: imagine if Bill Clinton hired John Hinckley as his advisor. The other 黃文雄 (HUANG, Wen-Hsiung) mentioned above is a Taiwanese (now naturalized Japanese and adapted Hepburn romanization: KO, Bunyu) and is a right wing extremist author. Last edited by dormcat on Sun Nov 20, 2005 4:27 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Jadress
 Posts: 807 Location: Seattle. It purdy and nerdy! |
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That story was pretty interesting and most definitely shows the ugly side of national attitudes and politics and all that. Actually, wasn't something on those same manga mentioned before on ANN? I do remember an insanely explosive (but fun to read, come on) thread.
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Yes, it was Kenkanryu, but not with many (actually, not a single) replies.
That was about Kuni ga Moeru. You see, each and every country in the world has done something bad and ugly in their history, but Japan is the only country allows (and even promotes publicly by some politicians) racist publications. Just imagine if an American comic illustrates "lazy Canadians without efficiency and dirty Mexican human and drug smugglers" or a German comic illustrates "lower life forms such as Polish, Czech, Russians and Jews." The author would be lucky if he can get arrested before assassinated. In Japan it's just the opposite: authors who are trying to pursuade the population "recognize what we have done to our Asian neighbors and we should apologize and reconcile with them" would receive razor blades in envolopes. |
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Kagemusha
 Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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How is Japan the only country that allows racist propaganda with places like Iran? And how would a writer get arrested for writing a racist comic in America or Germany? Assasinated? We'd have a war going on in the states between all the hate groups. I agree with you about Japan being particuarly bad about covering up their history, but your they certainly aren't the only country where racism is tolerated.[/code] |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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I should have limited to "countries considering themselves democratic and developed."  Praising Nazi beliefs publicly IS a crime in Germany, and I have learned two Canadian youths were arrested and sentenced to prison because they felt a Chinese Lunar New Year parade was blocking their way and shouted "back to China, you Chinaman swines!" in Vancouver.
Besides, Iranian propaganda is more religious than racial. Religion can be changed (albeit very difficult), yet one can't change one's racial background. No matter how many right-wing books he writes, KO Bunyu will never be a "true Japanese" and be accepted by Japanese society. On the other hand, right wing extremists hate Hiroshi Motomiya (author of Kuni ga Moeru) and even call him "traitor," yet they'll never consider him NOT a "true Japanese," as long as he draws something else. ---- See, in less than ten posts we began discussing everything but manga, and I'm guilty as well.  
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ACDragonMaster
 Posts: 405 |
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Wow, that's interesting. Though, I don't think those stereotypes are true of all manga. Izumi from Fullmetal Alchemist, for example, both has a Japanese name and actually looks like she's ethnically Asian compared to the other characters. And someone once pointed out to me that it's not uncommon for main characters to have a distinct "Japanese" face shape, though that's a more subtle detail.
But still, people are actually publishing stuff like that's described in that article? That's absurd. Especially the accusations against South Korea, when South Korea is definitely as advanced as Japan, maybe more so in some ways. It really just comes off as an almost today-like behavior, trying to belittle whoever it is they see as inferior/disliked by the higher powers while trying to curry favor with those powers by agreeing with and emulating them. They're calling Korea and China "backwards", yet they aren't exactly taking an original step forward themselves if all they're doing is emulating. |
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daxomni
Posts: 2650 Location: Somewhere else. |
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See, in less than ten posts we began discussing everything but manga, and I'm guilty as well.
It's human nature to deviate from the original topic and end up discussing another when conversing with others about any given issue. Most sites have an "anything else" forum for threads that get too far off-track, but this site doesn't seem to have one. Anyway, back to the topic... This isn't the first time I've heard about Japan's insular collective views. A friend of mine who spoke Japanese and visited Japan for six months came back with surprisingly little interest of returning anytime soon. That really struck me at first, since this person had always shown great interest toward and a deep respect of Japan for as long as I had known him. Over time I got the impression that he was a bit disgusted with Japanese-only policies of some stores and restaurants and the vague feeling that outsiders will forever remain merely as tolerated guests instead of respected members of the citizenry. The manga side of this issue is probably just a small (but fascinating) part of it. Where's the "Japanese Culture" forum? |
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Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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I do recall hearing about some idiot who got arrested for teaching his dog to give a nazi salute (don't ask me how) 
As for the topic, it's pretty unfortunate that these sentiments are being manefested into manga. The only condolence for me is that they'll probobly never reach the widespread recognition or acclaim as something like Barefoot Gen. On the topic of right-wing comics, there recently has been an American comic that portrays a future in which liberals have taken over the US and bin Laden has been made ambassador to the UN. From what I've read the author is just inventing this situation to get out his polical views, which I really don't mind as there are plenty of left-wing comics with just as ludacris concepts. |
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StickyToffeePopcorn
Posts: 61 Location: UK |
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...Eek. I hate this so much that if I even saw it in a friend's home I don't think I would ever speak to them again.
I hope somebody releases a manga denouncing Xenophobic and Nationalistic ideals. ...The likelyhood of that happening isn't great though. I hate the way it's selling so well too, and most probably to youths. -_- |
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abunai
Old Regular
 Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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You're thinking of Liberality, a miniseries of 8 comics with a truly silly plotline.
I find it amusing that, in this "nightmare" future of "liberal oppression", Chelsea Clinton is U.S. President and Osama Bin Laden is Afghanistan's Ambassador to the U.N. - can even the most nutty right-wingers really see any of that happening? Whereas I don't think anyone finds it particularly improbable that Jeb Bush will inherit the presidency, assuming his brother doesn't find an excuse to do away with the 22nd Amendment, or (less likely but still more probable than Chelsea in the White House) do away with most of the provisions of Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution (the ones dealing with election of the president).
Anyone has the right (at present) to produce silly stuff like this. However, I gather that this concept, "freedom of speech", is an outmoded idea that is in the process of being eliminated from American culture. In time, the left-wing comics with "ludacris" (sic) concepts will all have gone the way of the dodo. - abunai Commie pinko fellow traveller socialist leftie |
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Depression
 Posts: 84 |
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It is a little sad and scary that this is a growing movement in a modern democratic country like Japan. Where there are strong right wing movements to cover up what had happened at Nanking and the other horrible War Crimes that were committed by Japan during WWII. By pushing to edit public text public textbooks to leave out these events. In addition, if this history is changed or just left out of textbooks, new generations will be unaware or ill informed about what truly happened during WWII between Japan and its Asian neighbors. This lack of proper facts and truthful history come from schools and textbooks, combined with what pop culture views of what "really" happened, such as manga, could cause an Alternative History of WWII for Japan. One possible history could where Japan could have been the victim of terrible war crimes. Then we have truly learned nothing from history and are doomed to repeat the same mistakes. Last edited by Depression on Mon Nov 21, 2005 10:02 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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daxomni
Posts: 2650 Location: Somewhere else. |
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That's the only part of your post that I was able to fully understand. The rest of it was incomprehensible to me. Also, what kind of a nickname is "depression?" If you honestly need help then try one of these... The US Suicide Hotline 800-784-2433 NDMDA Depression Hotline 800-826-3632 Suicide & Depression Hotline 800-999-9999 |
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