Research Outline

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, one of the main contributors to the spread of manga abroad has been Shôjo Manga. Within this newly arrived phenomenon, manga is depicting the domain of women anew, fundamentally shaking the widely held ideological concepts of women.

However, whether this new vision is due to the effect of the media’s power in breaking down the borders between socio-historically different cultural contexts, or to the effects of Feminism, is a matter of contention.

While the impact of manga as a global cultural phenomenon is beyond doubt, the true state of women’s historical and cultural condition has not been fully researched in terms of its Japanese context. As we have not had the resources to fully explore these matters, we can now address the following two questions:

1. Is the reception abroad of Shôjo Manga and women’s manga in general due to the effects of Feminism, or to something else?
2. Is its successful reception due to the sheer artistic integrity of the medium, regardless of any effects due to considerations of gender?

This research aims at reconstructing the idea of the universal genre of the art of comics without regard to the significance of historical concepts of women, focusing the emphasis instead on the keyword, manga, through a fundamental re-reading of the medium. To this end, we would like to reassess and verify the true nature of identity as it is expressed in the culture of comics and manga in terms of its increasingly global nature after the expansion through and merging of the medium in Japan, the USA and Asia, without being misdirected by any fixed concept of gender distinction, but instead, by taking into account a wide variety of independent representations via the following research initiatives:

○The collection of materials and documentation relating to the culture of women’s comics and manga abroad and in Japan.
○Participation in conferences, organizations and events pertaining to the culture of manga, including fostering links and exchanges with researchers and authors, domestically and internationally.
○Disseminating information and promoting activities about manga culture via the Japanese Manga Association and the Kyoto International Manga Museum.
○Co-operation with exhibitions of manga, such as at the 2009 domestic symposium.
○The raising of awareness of women’s comics and manga by presenting our project’s activities at the annual year-end International Convention on Manga.
○Creating a database and archive of women’s comics and manga.

＜Research Members’ Profiles＞
＜Research Aims＞
＜Conceptual Parameters of Women’s Manga Research＞
＜The Research Project’s Academic Background＞
＜Unique Specialties of Our Research＞
Research in Women’s Manga:
“Glocalization” and the Possibilities for Expression of Subjectivity (2012 – 2014)
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