JAPAN
"As you may have noticed, Japanese comics have gripped the global imagination ...To understand manga's place in Japan, you must begin with its ubiquity. Even though the popularity of manga has fallen in recent years, it still comprises about 22% of all printed material in Japan. In many parts of Tokyo, you can't walk more than two or three blocks without encountering comics ... These books dominate long stretches of Japanese bookstores ... Ride the Tokyo subway and you'll ... inevitably spot gray-haired businessmen, twentysomething hipsters, and Japanese schoolgirls alike paging through a manga weekly or a graphic novel ... The city of Hiroshima even has a bustling public library devoted entirely to manga ... Nearly every aspect of cultural production - which is now Japan's most influential export - is rooted in manga. Most anime (animated) movies and television series, as well as many videogames and collectible figures, began life as comics ... manga is more influential in Japan than network television is in the US. Comics occupy the center, feeding the rest of the media system." (From Wired Magazine, October '07)
"In Japan, mobile phone sales of electronic books, including manga, grew 331.3% from 1.6 billion yen (about $14 million) to 6.9 billion yen ($58 million) in 2006. The Digital Content Association that reported the results expected sales to reach $100 million by year end." (From the Digital Content Association of Japan, October '07)
"Japanese women in particular like to read manga on their mobiles. It is an enthusiasm with potential for growth and is adding sales both for publishers and for Japanese flat-rate providers. Mobiles with high-quality LCD displays contribute to making it fun to read on the move in Japan. In addition, the 3G standard (UTMS) is already widely in place there. The Japanese are evidently happy to spend money for their fun. Around 30 to 40 cents is charged per comic page. Given the mass consumption, this adds up. According to newspaper reports, the trend in reading manga on mobile phones has already produced increased sales for this year. At the same time, publishing companies have reacted to the fact that the readers of mobile manga are predominantly female by bringing (even) more titles onto the market for this target group. Nobody knows exactly why it is Japanese women in particular who indulge in this new passion. One reason could be that in this way they can also read titles that they feel unable just to go and buy in a manga shop. Encouraged by the Japanese example, American publishing companies also want to profit from the trend. Providers such as Tokyopop and GoComics are at the ready and are optimistic about the mobile comics future, with the technical conditions now also better in the USA, making reading on the move more enjoyable." (From Spiegel Online and PW Comics Week, October '06)
In the traditional manga strongholds of Japan and Korea ... the market is changing. Chigusa Ogino of Japan’s Tuttle Mori Agency [said] that sales of manga in book form had overtaken manga magazines for the first time last year in Japan, a sign of the powerful promotional effect of manga feature films and TV shows, with their tie-in editions. (From Frankfurt Book Fair's "Newsletter Daily," October '06)
"Shotaro Ishinomori (1938-1998) is one of the most famous Manga authors of all time, distinguished by his creations of more than 500 Manga characters ... The author is known for various story-Manga titles such as Cyborg 009, Kamen Rider (Masked Rider), and Manga Introduction to Japanese History ... In Japan, his name is as widely recognized as is the name, Walt Disney, in the United States ... Comic Book Movies and Ishimori Group (will) jointly develop motion picture franchises based on (his) original properties ... 'The business of the future is building comic book franchises covering many different genres based upon pre-sold American and Japanese comic book, graphic novel, and Manga properties,' said Michael Uslan, Producer and Chief Creative Officer of Comic Book Movies. (From a Business Wire story, Nov 2005)
"Manga is Japanese for 'comics.' Dishpan-sized eyes (and) samurai-like movements ... are a few of its tell-tale elements. Technically, you can bring a Superman comic to Japan, and it will be referred to as 'manga.' But nobody's bringing Superman comics to Japan. And everybody's bringing manga to America." (From the Fox Features web site, August 2005)
"Though its true origins can be traced to 12th century Japan, manga's life officially began in the early 19th century, when famous landscape artist Hokusai — who, along with others, produced colored, wood-block paintings very similar to comics — published some sketches in a collection entitled 'Hokusai Manga.' When Eastern folklore met Western art forms after World War II, true manga was born. (From the Fox Features web site, August 2005)
“There are 87 TV anime programs being broadcasted in Japan and 50, which are 60% of them, are based on manga. 14 out of the 15 most popular anime series are made after manga, and this trend shows no signs of changing. It is certain that manga is supporting the quality and quantity of Japanese anime ... Japanese manga got their start in 1959. Two magazines, Weekly Shonen Sunday and Weekly Shonen Magazine were launched on the same day and they practically created the manga boom. It has been 45 years since then, and there are approximately 70 thousand manga that sell over 120 million copies every month. If you figure that the population of Japan is 120 million, that’s one person buying one manga each month. Recently, we have seen a decrease in the sale of manga, as similar products have become available over the internet and on cellular phones, but there is no fear that this representative form of Japanese entertainment is going to vanish anytime soon ... I have been serving as an editor of the Corocoro magazine for 13 years. Corocoro magazine is a monthly publication that targets boys aged 7 to 13. It sells about 1.3 million copies per month. Considering that there are only 4 million kids from age 6 to 12 in Japan, this penetration even surprises me!" (From a presentation on “Global Anime Strategy” at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany, October 2004)
"The...manga industry accounts for one-third of all the material printed in Japan. (By contrast, the U.S. comic industry is closer to 3%.) The manga that makes it to North America, featuring giant fighting robots and questing knights, represents a narrow cross-section of what's actually produced. 'What is available here is what can be sold here,' says Fredrik Shodt, a manga expert and translator, 'and the existing North American comic market is young and male, so what's brought over is the action-oriented material. But in Japan, you can get manga about taxes, about the constitution or about how to choose a defence lawyer. Anything can be manga.' (From an article in the National Post of Canada, May 2002)
"Japan's Education Ministry says manga comics, which are very popular in the country, are playing an increasing cultural role. In a government White Paper released last week, the ministry called comics a 'powerful representation of our times' and said manga is part of Japan's national culture, recognised and highly regarded abroad. The comics are enjoyed by young people and adults ... Manga is increasingly being used for educational purposes and publishing companies find that the comics are a useful way of teaching history and other subjects." (From an Ananova News Service story, Nov 2000)
"The tax office recently released its list of last year's top taxpayers in Japan, with the author list headed by... (an) author with the highest taxable income, an estimated 648 million yen... However, this record was surpassed by the manga artist Takahashi Kazuki, whose income for 1999 is thought to be 1.09 billion yen! His manga Yu-Gi-Oh, serialized in the manga magazine Shonen Jump, is popular with elementary and junior high students." (From The Japan Times, June 2000)
"The ubiquitous Sakura of Card-captor Sakura [Japanese manga] is so popular that she has spawned 340 million yen in sales in 11 volumes, not to mention the video, laser disc, DVD, CD, Game Boy and PlayStation merchandise created in her image." (From The Japan Times, May 2000)
"A Japanese university is offering the ideal course for students who hide comics in their text books - an academic course in cartoon studies. The Kyoto Seika University's department for cartoon and comic arts has gathered a collection of 15,000 comic books which it hopes will help develop the skills of budding cartoonists and comic critics. Art professor Keiichi Makino told Asahi News: 'Cartoons present their own form of expression, where pictures and words are sorted by frames. They must be studied from a new viewpoint that is different from literature or painting'." (From an April 2000 item on the Ananova online news service)
"The JoJo's Bizarre Adventure comic book has delighted more than 5 million readers on a weekly basis for over 15 years. The books were authored in 1986 by well-known Japanese artist Hirohiko Araki." (From an Entertainment Wire story, March 2000)
"Manga, the Japanese brand of comic strip, play a significant role in Japan's contemporary culture. They account for one third of all print material in Japan, and 4.75 billion dollars' worth of books are sold every year. Dragon Ball is the world's most successful comic [and] the drawings of it's inventor, Akira Torijama, also grace the walls of the Tokyo National Museum of Western Art. Berlin's 'House of Cultures of the World' [is] preparing an extensive exhibition of Japanese manga art which is scheduled to open in early 2000." (From a September '99 article in Lufthansa Magazin)
A Japanese paperback sensation, Tezuka Osamu's manga Blackjack presently has 10,000,000 copies in print with 35 million copies aggregate published to date. (From an August '99 Entertainment Wire Story)
"Japan has experienced a sharp cinematic decline since the 1950s when it made 500-plus films a year--perhaps the world's biggest film industry. Animated films have since become much more profitable than live-action, most of them based upon the famed Japanese manga comic books. (From Asian Pop Cinema: Bombay to Tokyo, March '99)
"What's Japan reading? That is, what is Japan reading besides the ubiquitous manga - those book-size comic books that much of the adult population seems to be poring over in coffee shops and game centers? It has been estimated that 70% of passengers on Japanese public transport are looking at manga. Indeed 32% of all publications in Japan are manga; 2 billion were purchased last year - more than 17 copies for every citizen of Japan. Shonen Jumpu, the most popular of the manga, sells more than 4 million copies a week. (From the Nov '98 issue of United's Hemispheres magazine)
"Japan's comics, or manga, business accounts for nearly 40 percent of all the books and magazines published in Japan each year, with sales approaching the equivalent of $7 billion. And they're not just for kids...comics cater to children, teens, young adults - and even middle-aged men, who are often seen reading [them] on commuter trains... [They] are increasingly popular in the United States and Europe... Proponents predict the country's comic books and animation styles will form the backbone of 21st century world pop culture... [and]...will challenge Western pop culture." (From a July '97 AP story)
"Roughly 2 billion paperback comic books and magazines are sold in Japan every year, 40 percent of all Japan's printed material." (From a March '97 AP story by a Japanese correspondent)
"It is one of the cliches of modern Japan that a sumo wrestler cannot squeeze on to a Tokyo train without squishing half a dozen commuters reading... comic books, known as manga... There are romantic manga, educational manga, humorous manga, sports manga, adventure manga, even manga explaining how to hire a good lawyer when in trouble with the police. And the Japanese snap up 2.3 billion manga each year. One manga, Shonen Jump, sells 6m copies a week; several others tot up sales near the 4m mark. Besides karaoke, this is the only modern art form in which Japan is a world leader." (From The Economist Newspaper, December '95)
"In 1995, of all the books and magazines sold in Japan, 40% were manga [comics]. That amounts to 15 copies for every man, woman and child in Japan." (From a Christian working in Japanese media)
In Tezuka Osamu's honour an entire Manga Museum was opened in Tajarazuka, Japan. (From the Japan Times Weekly International Edition, May '94)
"I often saw Japanese businessmen reading comics on the train, and many, many adults read them in the Philippines with no sense of embarrassment, as might be felt in the West. Actually, if you can be seen to be reading something it is a point in your favor because being literate is considered a mark of distinction." (From a UBS photojournalist in the mid-1990s)
"Why are the Japanese so fond of manga [comics]? Immersed in manga weeklies aboard commuter trains, we seem to strike foreigners as strange... Why have foreigners been indifferent to manga? One possible answer is that they have had no Tezuka in their own countries. It is impossible to discuss postwar Japanese manga without mentioning Tezuka Osamu." (From a Feb.'89 editorial "Astro Boy's Message" in Asahi Shimbun, one of Japan's 3 major dailies, after the death of the comics creator who published approximately 700 comics titles in his lifetime)
"There are so many kinds of weekly comic magazines in Japan... One in ten Japanese regularly buy a comic magazine... over one-third of the population are estimated to have access to comics. These comic magazines form a subculture in Japanese society. We think nothing strange when we see businessmen reading comic magazines on the commuting train. But what is portrayed in those comics? Mostly what you would never want your child to see. Many are flooded with sex, violence, and the occult. Japanese comics have largely been under the influence of the New Age worldview. In this subculture of comics, as well as in internet community, the power of evil is rampant. There are a number of Christians who have taken effort to advance comic evangelism, but unfortunately their effort has not drawn enough attention nor support. Generally speaking, it seems that as Christians grow spiritually, they tend to have less connection to other people living in this world. No matter how many high-toned messages are preached at church, 99% of the Japanese population live totally away from church. Then, should we not share the love of God in their language and in the culture that they can understand? That is the reason why we think it necessary to put out Christian comics in the world." (From an editorial by the director of one of the biggest evangelical TV programs aired in Japan)
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