Overview

In the 21st century, the globalization of Japanese comics has resulted in the word ‘MANGA’ coming to refer to all comics, not just limited to describing Japanese manga. Due to this overseas expansion, Japanese manga, which had already established a market specifically for josei (women) readers, has inspired the participation of new josei voices who were previously marginalized in the male-dominated Western comics world. Historically, women creators have been dealing with issues regarding ‘sex’ for women readers within the pages of Japanese shōjo manga since the 1970s. However, overseas, where the main readers of comics are children, there is a strong backlash against a perception of so-called “loose regulations” regarding expressions of sex and violence. The question is if MANGA can become established as a global culture characterized by independent free expression.

This research focuses on the United States, Europe, Asia, and Japan and examines the following: 1) independent expression (intended statements from writers and within works, roles of fan communities, etc.), and 2) the environments for the construction of such (legal and educational development, the building of archives, etc. within each cultural region). By examining the regulatory literacy related to josei and MANGA culture from these two perspectives, the role of MANGA in connecting different cultures can be clarified.

Academic background of the research; any academic questions that form the core of the research subject

This research is based on the accumulation of research conducted so far and asks how cultural differences across various cultures and languages are dealt with, and whether such differences that have developed among different cultures can be breached in the future, especially in regards to independent expression of new josei participants in MANGA culture who have been connected through MANGA.

Project members, along with their collaborators, conducted research supported with the following two scientific research funds:
[2009-2011 Basic Research (B) “Research in Women’s Manga: Subjectivity, Globalization, and the Possibilities for Expression” (Representative: OGI Fusami) 21320044]
2012-2014 Basic Research (B) ” Research in Women’s Manga: Globalization and the Possibilities for Expression of Subjectivity ” (Representative OGI Fusami) 24320047]

In carrying out these studies, the title Women’s MANGA Research Project is used as an umbrella term under which a network of researchers, writers, readers, and fans has been built, and the members of this network have been conducting research activities. Based on these two studies, the relationship between MANGA and the independent expression of josei has been verified as an important one, not only because of homogeneity due to globalization, but also as a glocalization phenomenon reflecting cultural transformation of regions producing diversified expressions.

Post-globalization, many overseas women writers began their comics-related activities based on their experiences of reading MANGA as children. Many have also recognized that the comic culture of their own cultural region is male-centered, and that participating in such independently as a woman is both socially and historically significant. These josei who were marginalized in comics, were not limited to expressing josei in the way they were normally visualized.

Currently, MANGA is spreading globally as a multicultural and multilingual medium. Manga spreading from Japan has been accepted overseas, has been cultivated independently in each cultural region, and is developing as a new medium called MANGA. Regulations arising during this development are not uniform, and are stipulated in various ways within each cultural region.

Mark McLelland (U of Wollongong, Australia), who has led MANGA regulatory research abroad, argues that regulations regarding Japanese manga expression are not well developed in comparison to those of Europe and the United States. On the other hand, Kaoru Nagayama, editor of the literary magazine “Manga Debate,” which focuses on manga and freedom of expression, stated, “Manga considered non-problematic in Japan may still conflict with the culture, religion, and civil morals of other countries.” (“Manga Debate” No. 12, 2014, 80). McLelland and Nagayama’s claims show the importance of regulations regarding the challenges MANGA faces connecting with different cultures.

How are cultural discrepancies and conflicts resolved as MANGA inspires women participants beyond Japan and develops into a new global media? Or do such discrepancies and conflicts remain? This question raised by the applicant has brought up new issues due to the research activities connected to the previous two studies.

Purpose of the research and academically, what makes the research original and creative

The purpose of this study is to verify what kind of cultural conflicts occur and how to overcome such conflicts when the media called MANGA, which connects various cultures across the globe, takes root in a region thus inspiring new josei participants to join the comics arena, and to also visualize the possibilities of MANGA for connecting diverse cultures.

This research can be considered distinctive as it is based on 10 years of previous research for the Women’s MANGA Research Project accumulated by a diverse network of researchers, educators, writers, publishers, museum and library researchers and curators, and fan communities, etc., and focuses on a wide range of expertise related to the addition of two simple keywords, ‘josei’ and ‘MANGA’.

This research can be considered creative as it focuses on a global medium that connects different and diverse cultures beyond Japan.

The main theme is to engage with MANGA and focus on the diversity created as an extension of the inclusion of a new generation of creators labeled with the keyword ‘josei’. This research focuses on ‘independence’ and the environments within which it is built, not to help develop regulations, but to examine the environments created in various cultural regions, and to contribute to the creativity of MANGA, which continues to spread multiculturalism and transmit free cultural expression.

Concrete and clear descriptions of what, how, and to what extent the topic will be addressed in the research

This research looks at the globalization and glocalization touched on in the previous two research projects, and focuses on new participants in the comics field in Europe, the US, Asia, and Japan from the perspectives of 1) independent expression of josei and 2) the environment in which such expressions come about, and from these perspectives, reconsiders them as a newly-linked cultural phenomenon while clarifying how the media called manga currently connects various and different cultures and overcomes differences among them.

1. Necessity of analyzing and reconsidering independent expression and the concept of ‘josei’ to represent various marginalized genders

Japanese manga has evolved in modern society based on four gender and age-based demographic classifications: boys (shōnen) / girls (shōjo) / women (josei) / men (dansei). Shōjo manga, the target market of which is girls (“The Birth of the Shōjo Novel,” 2013, p. 20) and which Yoriko Kume calls “the lowest demographic”, was a creative space in which the creators and readers of such were almost exclusively women. At the same time, the BL (Boys’ Love) genre, a genre depicting romance between male characters and in which girls are markedly absent, developed and its popularity began to spread across the globe. The creators and readers who were of that same generation were aware of being labeled ‘shōjo’ and thus tried to challenge the female norms imposed by that label through their various expressions of genders.

The current globalization of MANGA is very similar to the development of the constructed space for women afforded by shōjo manga in that it also includes various expressions of genders. Due to the effects of colonization, the cultural region where Western comics were dominant accepted overseas expansion of the women’s market established as part of Japanese manga, but not without a measure of surprise. This led to an increase in the number of female participants in comics which had not yet been seen before, and at the same time, this increase was accompanied by the spread and international commonization of various Japanese identity-related expressions such as ‘OTAKU’, ‘KAWAII’, ‘BOYS’ LOVE (BL)’, ‘FUJOSHI’, ‘FUDANSHI,’ etc. In other words, it can be said that the globalization of manga has established MANGA as a free medium that does not regulate identity, and the glocalization that links MANGA to various regional cultures has made it possible for creative expression by new participants.

Through this research, the globalization and glocalization experienced by MANGA is reconsidered as a collaborative cultural phenomenon, and the kinds of cultural conflict that have occurred due to independent expressions by josei of diverse marginalized genders and the ways that such conflict has been overcome, is examined.

2. Educational and public institutions as environments that build independent expression: the necessity for examining regulations

Currently, MANGA has spread globally and has produced many MANGA creators outside of Japan. However, the historical background of Japanese culture is not commonly shared by many cultural regions. Also, it is not a culture that has spread throughout the world based on the regional characteristics of each cultural region. This was a factor which was focused upon at the 2018 Stockholm International Manga Conference in which project members and research coordinators participated, and in addition to exploring the differences between each cultural region to further understand the cultural differences across MANGA as a global media, the need to investigate how to build literacy in regards to MANGA, which has spread globally, including educational perspectives as comic cultures overseas mainly targets children, was pointed out.

From now on, as MANGA develops as a global culture and is encountered as a media that constructs independent expression, this research can examine regulatory literacy regarding environments affected by such encounters with the cooperation of educational and public institutions, publishers, and educational sites at home and abroad. It can pursue the possibilities of MANGA concerning how it overcomes cross-cultural differences and how it leads the way for culture and free expression.