Table Of ContentThe Representation of Japanese
Politics in Manga
This edited volume explores political motives, discourses and agendas in Japa-
nese manga and graphic art with the objective of highlighting the agency of Jap-
anese and wider Asian storytelling 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, con-
temporary 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 apoliti-
cal. 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 neo- nationalism 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.
Roman Rosenbaum PhD is an Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney,
Australia. He specialises in Post-W ar Japanese Literature and Popular Cultural
Studies. He is the editor of Representation of Japanese History in Manga
(Routledge, 2013) and Visions of Precarity in Japanese Popular Culture and
Literature (Routledge, 2015).
Routledge/Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) East
Asian Series
Edited by Morris Low
Editorial Board: Geremie Barmé, Australian National University, Colin Macker-
ras, Griffith University, Vera Mackie, University of Wollongong and Sonia
Ryang, University of Iowa.
This series represents a showcase for the latest cutting- edge research in the field
of East Asian studies, from both established scholars and rising academics. It
will include studies from every part of the East Asian region (including China,
Japan, North and South Korea and Taiwan) as well as comparative studies
dealing with more than one country. Topics covered may be contemporary or
historical, and relate to any of the humanities or social sciences. The series is an
invaluable source of information and challenging perspectives for advanced stu-
dents and researchers alike.
16 Chinese Stories of Drug Addiction
Beyond the Opium Dens
Guy Ramsay
17 Anti- nuclear Protest in Post-F ukushima Tokyo
Power Struggles
Alexander James Brown
18 Japan in Australia
Culture, Context and Connection
Edited by David Chapman and Carol Hayes
19 Reporting Mental Illness in China
Guy Ramsay
20 The Representation of Japanese Politics in Manga
The Visual Literacy of Statecraft
Edited by Roman Rosenbaum
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-A sian-Studies- Association-of- Australia-ASAA- East-Asian- Series/
book- series/SE0467
The Representation of
Japanese Politics in Manga
The Visual Literacy of Statecraft
Edited by Roman Rosenbaum
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Roman Rosenbaum; individual
chapters, the contributors
The right of Roman Rosenbaum to be identified as the author of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-i n-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-0-367-43996-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-00718-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
Contents
List of figures vii
Notes on contributors x
Foreword xiv
Acknowledgements xvi
1 Introduction: the political potential of manga 1
ROMAN ROSENBAUM
2 Re- envisioning the Dark Valley and the decline of the
peace state 27
BARBARA GREENE
3 Kobayashi Yoshinori’s just war and unjust peace: Sensō
ron, arrogant- ism and selective memory 46
MICHAEL LEWIS
4 Sexual politics in manga: Pan-P an Girls confronting the US
occupation, Vietnam War and Japan’s Article 9 revision 62
MICHIKO TAKEUCHI
5 NEETs versus nuns: visualizing the moral panic of Japanese
conservatives 86
SEAN PATRICK WEBB
6 The body political: women and war in Kantai Collection 103
RACHAEL HUTCHINSON
7 Towards an unrestrained military: manga narratives of the
self- defence forces 121
JEFFREY J. HALL
vi Contents
8 The political representation of Hiroshima in the graphic art
of Kōno Fumiyo 141
ROMAN ROSENBAUM
9 What Tezuka would tell Trump: critiquing Japanese
cultural nationalism in Gringo 162
BEN WHALEY
10 Questioning the politics of popular culture: Tatsuta
Kazuto’s manga 1F and the national discourse on 3/11 183
STEPHAN KöHN
11 Database nationalism: the disaggregation of nation,
nationalism and symbol in pop culture 203
CHRISTOPHER SMITH
12 Envisioning nuclear futures: Shiriagari Kotobuki’s 3/11
manga from hope to despair 223
RACHEL DINITTO
13 Kokoro (心): civic epistemology of self-k nowledge in
Japanese war-t hemed manga 245
YUKA HASEGAWA
14 In conclusion: Abenomics, Trumpism and manga 265
ROMAN ROSENBAUM
Index 277
Figures
1.1 Doraemon: seiji no shikumi ga wakaru [understanding the
political process] 4
1.2 Controversial pearl diver avatar: the Aoshima Megu
(碧志摩メグ) moe character 10
1.3 Controversial distortion – Toshiko Hasumi’s Syrian refugee
manga. The translation reads: ‘I want to go on living a safe
and clean life, eat gourmet food, go out to play freely, wear
pretty things, and live a luxurious life, without any hardship.
At the expense of someone else. I have an idea. I’ll become a
refugee.’ 12
1.4 Politicised teenagers on the front cover of the Liberal
Democratic Parties manga, Kuni ni todoke 13
2.1a and 2.1b Hiromu Arakawa, Fullmetal Alchemist. The State
Alchemists Using Ishvalen Prisoners in Experiments 35
2.2a and 2.2b Hiromu Arakawa, Fullmetal Alchemist. General
Armstrong Infiltrates and Subdues Human Military
Conspirators 36
4.1 Endō Takeo, 1956 63
4.2 Ono Saseo, 1948. Illustration from Ikeda Michiko,
“Yoru no Ueno: Sakka no shakai tanbō,” Gekkan Yomiuri
(1948) 68
4.3 Matsushita Ichio, cover of Satadei Nyūsu (1948) 70
4.4 Tezuka Osamu, “Sukippara no burūsu” (1975) 74
4.5 Oriko, “Takoku no shihaika de ikinuku niwa?” (c.2004) 77
7.1 Aozakura characters decorate the front of a car belonging to
NDA’s automobile club. This was part of a display of
student club activities at the 2017 NDA school festival, a
two- day event in which the normally closed campus is open
to the general public 131
7.2 Gate merchandise at a Tokyo shop in 2016. These included
items decorated with JSDF camouflage patterns, dog tags
containing the names of characters, and key chains shaped
like Japanese military rifles 135
viii Figures
8.1 ‘Good- bye Hiroshima’. The artist bids farewell to Hiroshima
well before the fatal atomic bomb blast eventuates. It
becomes the artist’s task to recreate Hiroshima from scratch
via her drawings for a new generation of readers 143
8.2 ‘Right Hand … I wonder where you are and what you are
doing’. Trompe l’oeil effects after the narrator loses her right
(drawing) hand 146
8.3 An example of the narrator’s chūkanzu 虫瞰図 (worm’s-eye
view) 148
8.4 An example of the narrator’s chōkanzu 鳥瞰図 or fukanzu
俯瞰図 (aerial bird’s-eye view) 149
8.5 The sacred school textbook showing the children’s doodles 154
9.1 Himoto greets his dinner guests in a traditional sumo mawashi 166
9.2 Himoto and his family stumble upon the torii gate and shrine
that mark the entrance to Tokyo Village. Japanese Text:
“You’re a …”/Box says “Offering” 168
9.3 Kondō stares in disbelief at the fake news articles in the
village’s newspaper. Japanese Text: “Wh … What … is this?
Where is this information from?” 169
9.4 The ability to stomach traditional food becomes a litmus test
for Japanese identity. Japanese Text: “Hey! Miso soup and
spinach salad with sesame dressing? With daikon radish in
the soup …” 171
9.5 Himoto questions what it means to be “Japanese.” Japanese
Text: “Are we not Japanese? Well then … who the hell are
the Japanese?!” 174
9.6 An elderly Himoto unveils his plans to hold a world’s fair in
“Gringo 2002.” Japanese Text: “That’s right! It’s a world’s
fair!!” To which the board members reply, “Oh!” 177
11.1 Yamato from Kantai korekushon 209
11.2 GSDF Recruiting Poster featuring characters from Gēto 215
11.3 The witches with their “striker units” 217
12.1a and 12.1b “Umibe no mura,” in Kotobuki Shiriagari, Ano hi kara
no manga. Shohan. Beam comix (Tokyo: Entā Burein, 2011) 225
12.2 “Furueru machi,” in Kotobuki Shiriagari, Ano hi kara no
manga. Shohan. Beam comix (Tokyo: Entā Burein, 2011) 226
12.3 “Furueru machi,” in Kotobuki Shiriagari, Ano hi kara no
manga. Shohan. Beam comix (Tokyo: Entā Burein, 2011) 229
12.4 “Purorōgu,” in Kotobuki Shiriagari, Ano hi kara no yūutsu.
Bīmu komikkusu (Tokyo: Kadokawa, 2015) 230
12.5 “Umibe no mura,” in Kotobuki Shiriagari, Ano hi kara no
manga. Shohan. Beam comix (Tokyo: Entā Burein, 2011) 231
12.6 “Kyūjitsu,” in Kotobuki Shiriagari, Gerogero pūsuka:
kodomo miraishi. Beam comix (Tokyo: Entaburein, 2012) 233
12.7 The Ferris Wheel in Pripyat. Tiia Monto 233
Figures ix
12.8 “Gerogero pūsuka,” in Kotobuki Shiriagari, Gerogero pūsuka:
kodomo miraishi. Beam comix (Tokyo: Entaburein, 2012) 235
12.9 “Chisana matsuri,” in Kotobuki Shiriagari, Ano hi kara no
yūutsu. Bīmu komikkusu (Tokyo: Kadokawa, 2015) 236
13.1a and 13.1b Keiji Nakazawa, Barefoot Gen, Vol. 3 ‘Life After
the Bomb’. Translated by Project Gen (San Francisco, CA:
Last Gasp of San Francisco, 2005) 253
13.2a and 13.2b Shigeru Mizuki, Onward Towards Our Noble
Deaths. Translated by Frederik L. Schodt (Montreal: Dawn
and Quarterly, 2015 [2011]) 255
13.3a and 13.3b Shigeru Mizuki, Onward Towards Our Noble
Deaths. Translated by Frederik L. Schodt (Montreal: Dawn
and Quarterly, 2015 [2011]) 256
13.4a and 13.4b Osamu Tezuka, Message to Adolf, Vol. 2.
Translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian (New York: Vertical,
2012) Kindle edition 257
13.5a and 13.5b Osamu Tezuka, Message to Adolf, Vol. 2.
Translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian (New York: Vertical,
2012) Kindle edition 259
14.1 Liberal Democratic Constitutional Reform Promotion
Headquarters: ‘Honobono Ikka no Kenpo Kaisei tte Nani’. 271
