funny books and homelessness

Anyone out there who knows me personally knows that I am a huge comic book nerd. Not in the sense that I saw Spider-man 2 5 times (I didn't) or that I have some retarded Superman tattoo (I don't.) I am a huge comic book nerd in that I buy about 300 dollars worth of comic books every month when I was in the states. This being so, I am going to devote this entry to the manga trade in Japan.

Manga, for those who have been living under a rock, is the Japanese comic book art form. When adapted to the screen it's called anime. Before I came to Japan, I despised both of those things. Not only because I thought they were stupid, but because I hated the image that everyone who likes Japanese culture is a nerd who reads manga porn. However, after getting here I realize that manga is far different than I realized (although a ton of it is still porno like I thought.)

Manga begins its life in huge weekly magazines. These are the size of magazines in the states, only about 500 pages thick. Each publisher of manga has their own magazine published each week containing their new stories, and dozens comes out every week. Each magazine can contain anywhere from 15 to 30 stories or more. The paper is basic newsprint, and its published in black and white to keep the huge weekly anthologies cheap. The paper changes colors so you can tell where one story starts and another begins. These anthologies are extremely cheap, only about 250 yen for each issue. These magazines, being so cheap, are often thrown away after use and are generally not kept. Homeless men in Tokyo will search garbage bins for used manga magazines and set up huge displays of them for sale on the side of the street.

The stories themselves run a wide range of topics. Comedy, romance, action, sci-fi, fighting, sports and every other genre you can think of. Unlike in the states, where there are only sci-fi or superhero comics, with maybe a handful of other topics being covered every year, if at all. Everyone reads manga. Old, young, girls, boys, nerds, hipsters, rich, poor. Everyone in Japan reads manga, not just male nerds like in the states (I myself, am one of those.)

Seeing as how these giant "jump" magazines (as they are sometimes called) are such low quality, how do Japanese people, who pride themselves on material possessions, keep up a library of their favorite stories? With the manga digests. These smaller books are most likely the ones you are familiar with if you have seen manga before, and are the only way manga is sold in the states.

The manga digest is about half the size of the jump magazine and is printed on high quality white paper, with black ink. They contain up to 10 or so installments of your favorite manga storyline, all in one book! These digests are sold for around 500 yen.

Aside from the upgrade in printing quality, there are also other differences between the digests and the jump magazines. The digests feature dust jackets, with full color designs. They also usually have a few pages in the front with full color glossy paper, sometimes introducing the story, bringing a reader up to date, or even having special digest-only mini-stories. They are high-quality books and perfect for putting on a bookshelf. The Japanese people keep these digests in perfect condition, and used bookstores that sell each volume for around 100 yen each used can easily be mistaken for new books.

Both the jump magazines and digests are sold everywhere in Japan. Convenience stores, record stores, news stands, and especially in train stations. Each train platform usually has at least one kiosk that sells food, drink, magazines and manga. The jump magazines are usually piled 15 or so high in front of the person behind the counter, almost blocking them from view. The jump magazines usually have covers of cute girls smiling or posing in bikinis, which have nothing at all to do with the content of the manga, besides maybe a few pictures of the girl on the first page of the magazine.

Like I said before, manga is read by everyone in Japan, and is considered a main stream hobby like reading a novel or watching a movie. There is no negative stigma like in the United States. I feel this is for 2 main reasons. One, the manga is kept cheap. 250 yen for a 500 page book of stories or 400 yen for a digest with 10 "issues" of your favorite comic book. This compares to 3 dollars an issue in the united states and canada for only 22 pages of story, and 20 dollars for a complilation of 7 or 8 issues. The second reason, and the more important one, is that manga appeals to all genres. Girls have just as much manga written for them as guys do, older people have just as much written as younger people do, etc. There is no 'skewing' of the medium heavily in any one direction, making it inclusive to everyone.

Oh, and yes there is manga porn. A lot of it. A whole lot of it. And its considered normal and mainstream as well, which many people in the united states can't comprehend. These adult books are stored right next to the rest of the manga, and not kept away or hidden. However, the vast majority of the manga is non-pornographic stories. And, keeping with what I just said above, there is lots of manga porn for men AND women. Women like porn, too!







I think I need a guillotine to get her off my mind.
karl.arthur