Manga: Iconic Pop-Culture of Japan
Manga(漫画) (pronounced maawng-guh) is a Japanese word that literally translates to “whimsical or impromptu pictures.” Today in Japan, Manga is one of the most popular forms of entertainment media. They are immensely popular among adults and children. The fact that manga books and magazines account for between 35 and 40% of all Japanese publications illustrates the breadth and depth of the audience for these products.
Manga is Japanese graphic novels that tell a story through pictures, where images rule supreme. Manga is typically printed in black and white, unlike American comic books. Full-color pages are reserved for special releases in Manga. An interesting fact about Manga is, they are read from right to left rather than left to right. If you are a new reader, it may take some time to get used to the format.
Japanese manga has a long history. Kitazawa Rakuten, an illustrator, and critic, founded a funny newspaper in 1902 as a Sunday supplement to News of Current Affairs (Jiji shinpō). Jiji manga was inspired by the Sunday comics sections of US newspapers. In the 1920s, manga as we know it emerged from an international backdrop of serialized comic strips in magazines and newspapers.
In the late 1940s, after the war, Japanese people also had little cash to spend, so a trend emerged in Osaka for printing cheap, long-format storybook manga called ‘red books,’ which were sold at roadside stalls. As a result, Tezuka Osamu (God of Manga and Japanese counterpart of Walt Disney) was able to publish New Treasure Island in 1947. He later went on to create one of Japan’s most famous and influential characters, Astro Boy.
Astro Boy was also the first successful Japanese animation production, as well as the first Japanese anime dubbed into English for an American audience, and it helped to establish the market for children’s products.
As a result, manga’s popularity skyrocketed, and it was destined to usher in otaku culture in the twenty-first century.
The most significant element of manga is that there is something for everyone. There is a manga for you whether you prefer adventure epics or sports, or even romantic comedies. However, and this is an important aspect, the manga industry tends to focus more on the sub-genre rather than talking about the broad genre. Interestingly, the main target audience dictates the types of manga genres.
Manga, anime, and other aspects of Japanese pop culture have gained popularity worldwide in recent decades. This has resulted in a broader awareness of Japanese culture due to pop culture products as a source of cultural information. Manga provides the readers not only with visual delight but also a glimpse of the literary side of Japanese culture. Thus educating the readers about the different cultural aspects of Japan. However, as with any cross-cultural literature, translation plays a significant role in the effectiveness of manga to serve as an example of Japanese culture.
Japanese popular culture is incessantly becoming a prominent force in the global markets over the last few decades. From Dragon Ball to Pokémon, Hello Kitty to Sailor Moon, the American pop-culture landscape has been flooded with Japanese media content since the mid-80s. With blockbusters like The Matrix, Kill Bill, and Memoirs of a Geisha, Hollywood has caught on to the trend. In 2003, the animated movie Spirited Away, directed by Japanese director Miyazaki Hayao, won an Oscar for a best-animated feature film. These days all major bookstores in America house a dedicated section for Japanese manga to meet the rising demand and awareness of Japanese manga and anime.
