The Maker Speaks
■You mean Japanese manga got to expand all over generations in 1960s.
Y: I’m giving you an interesting topic. On a corner of convenience stores, you can find comics. Only Japan has rising of sales of the manga at the corner among all countries.
■Truly? Do overseas convenience stores have the manga corner?
Y: Although they have. And you must buy a comic from the corner under a fuzzy purpose, mustn’t you? Lax motives must let you do.
■I know those books with tenderness and low price.
Y: The point is lax motives. Just like air and water, manga is completely in our life. We’ll never find it in other countries yet.
■Rising of the sales can be found only in Japan, it explains so.
Y: Like Kuma-mon, we have lately seen mascot characters called Yuru-chara all over Japan. The culture to be widely familiar to characters like that is also found only in Japan. At the toy stores overseas, they mainly display goods of characters from Disney or Japanese manga. Characters hardly grow like Japan in other countries.
■Namely, they don’t hope for characters as Japanese?
Y: No. Foreigners see too Japanese characters exist and must feel strange. Japanese culture to be so familiar to characters, it can be an evidence of deep penetration of manga in Japan.
■Manga is not popular overseas?
Y: Not universal like Japan. Although they often say Japanese manga has spread outside, it is only a small group which loves Japanese manga. But the small group is steadily getting bigger today.
■Oh. Will it keep on getting larger?
Y: It will. On the sales, Japanese manga magazines have especially fallen down recently. We have surely seen some magazines stop so often. Inside and outside, our opportunities of touching manga and manga-like expression are constantly on the increase, however.
■E-books have lately raised its head. What about digital books?
Y: I guess paper never becomes all dead even if they mainly read on e-books. Paper never dies and electronic books won’t replace thoroughly. Amount of real books must surely decrease to a certain degree. I reckon that analog and digital act each other. So we will see each development on Japanese manga.
■It is not the turning point now, is it?
Y: It can be a transitional point. That looks gradual. So manga writers need to grasp manga itself again. Mentioned is not only on patterns however also on distribution and the way of publishing. All manga creators should think and go multi-faceted.
■Sounds like the party is coming. Thanks for this interview, Sir.
Y: Thank you.
Interview and Text by Misaka Youhei
Y: I’m giving you an interesting topic. On a corner of convenience stores, you can find comics. Only Japan has rising of sales of the manga at the corner among all countries.
■Truly? Do overseas convenience stores have the manga corner?
Y: Although they have. And you must buy a comic from the corner under a fuzzy purpose, mustn’t you? Lax motives must let you do.
■I know those books with tenderness and low price.
Y: The point is lax motives. Just like air and water, manga is completely in our life. We’ll never find it in other countries yet.
■Rising of the sales can be found only in Japan, it explains so.
Y: Like Kuma-mon, we have lately seen mascot characters called Yuru-chara all over Japan. The culture to be widely familiar to characters like that is also found only in Japan. At the toy stores overseas, they mainly display goods of characters from Disney or Japanese manga. Characters hardly grow like Japan in other countries.
■Namely, they don’t hope for characters as Japanese?
Y: No. Foreigners see too Japanese characters exist and must feel strange. Japanese culture to be so familiar to characters, it can be an evidence of deep penetration of manga in Japan.
■Manga is not popular overseas?
Y: Not universal like Japan. Although they often say Japanese manga has spread outside, it is only a small group which loves Japanese manga. But the small group is steadily getting bigger today.
■Oh. Will it keep on getting larger?
Y: It will. On the sales, Japanese manga magazines have especially fallen down recently. We have surely seen some magazines stop so often. Inside and outside, our opportunities of touching manga and manga-like expression are constantly on the increase, however.
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Dean of Manga Faculty Kyoto Seika University Director of International Reserch Center for Manga |
Y: I guess paper never becomes all dead even if they mainly read on e-books. Paper never dies and electronic books won’t replace thoroughly. Amount of real books must surely decrease to a certain degree. I reckon that analog and digital act each other. So we will see each development on Japanese manga.
■It is not the turning point now, is it?
Y: It can be a transitional point. That looks gradual. So manga writers need to grasp manga itself again. Mentioned is not only on patterns however also on distribution and the way of publishing. All manga creators should think and go multi-faceted.
■Sounds like the party is coming. Thanks for this interview, Sir.
Y: Thank you.
Interview and Text by Misaka Youhei
