Rumiko Takahashi’s popularity worldwide

In a recent column of “Through Otaku Eyes”, Kanta Ishida wrote about the worldwide popularity of Rumiko Takahashi.

Ishida wrote, “Who is the artist who played the greatest role in the “globalization” of Japanese manga?”

“It might be Akira Toriyama, whose Dragon Ball became synonymous with manga. Or it might be Katsuhiro Otomo, who showed his skill at precise description in Akira, or Naoko Takeuchi, who excited enthusiasm among girls across Europe and the United States with her Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. Or maybe it’s Fujio F. Fujiko, as there can hardly be a child in Asia who doesn’t know Doraemon.”

“All these names are necessary when talking about Japanese manga’s foreign expansion.”

“But I’m beginning to think it may be the works of Rumiko Takahashi that showed the world the essence of manga more widely and deeply in and after the 1980s.”

“I am sometimes surprised by how widely her works are known while talking with people in the manga industry abroad. Pascal Lafine, editor in chief of Tonkam, a publishing company in France, told me about his considerable feeling for Takahashi’s hit manga series, Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku. Lau Wan Kit, a Hong Kong cartoonist who won the top prize in the second annual International Manga Award contest hosted by the Japanese Foreign Ministry for artists based overseas last month, said Takahashi is one of the mangaka he respects. Russian Japanologist Ivan Sergeevich Logachov loved Takahashi’s Ranma 1/2 so much that he finally translated it into Russian.”

“There may be mangaka who have sold more copies abroad than Takahashi has, but in many cases a certain title or artist is especially popular in one area and not so much so in others. Takahashi is a rare case in that her works are evenly popular over many parts of the world.”

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[FRANCE] Manga Fever in France

In a recent column by Ishida Kanta for the Daily Yomiuri, Ishida wrote, “Japanese pop culture, manga in particular, is enjoying a boom in France. A recent event showed how much young people in France are learning about Japanese culture through manga and developing a longing for their “dream country.”

“The ninth Japan Expo was held July 3-6 at Paris-Nord Villepinte Convention and Exhibition Center. The venue, more than twice as big as Tokyo Dome, was packed with a variety of manga and related items and thronged with cosplayers, as if to reflect the strong yearnings for Japan among manga lovers in France.”

“The bulk of the exhibition was given over to booths operated by publishers dealing with French editions of Japanese manga. But I was more amazed by other booths handling a great variety of items, ranging from kimono, swords and character figures to calligraphy items, round-headed kokeshi dolls and origami.”

“As I walked among the exhibition visitors, most of whom were participating in cosplay, I felt a mild culture shock at the chaotic and extraordinary space.”

“Two middle school girls, clad in “Gosu-rori” outfits–a colloquial abbreviation of the terms Gothic and Lolita–they bought from a Japanese mail-order company, told me they like One Piece most among Japanese manga. The also said they find Japanese culture very interesting as it is “modern.”

“Through this event we hope to introduce Japanese lifestyles into our own through manga culture,” said event staffer Thomas Sirdey, 28

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[JAPAN] THROUGH OTAKU EYES / First and last manga exhibition answers important question

In the latest column for “Through Otaku Eyes” for the Daily Yomiuri, Ishida Kanta writes, “Although it will end Sunday, Inoue Takehiko: The Last Manga Exhibition, which is being held at the Ueno Royal Museum in Ueno, Tokyo, is an unprecedented event in the study of the relationship between museum and manga.”

“Museum exhibitions of work by mangaka are now somewhat commonplace, but they do not have a long history. Until about 20 years ago, there were few people in the world of art who considered postwar manga “art.” It might have been possible to hold such a show at a department store gallery, but displaying manga at an art museum was out of the question.”

“The exhibition of the works of Osamu Tezuka, the creator of Astroboy, in 1990 at the National Museum of Modern Art in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, was a turning point for such perceptions. The event, held about one year after the death of the manga giant, was a large-scale retrospective with about 1,500 original drawings. The event drew headlines along the lines of, “Public museum opens its doors to manga.”

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