Pursuant to Research in Women’s Manga: Subjectivity, Globalization, and the Possibilities for Expression (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) No.: 21320044, Leader: Fusami Ogi, Chikushi Jogakuen University, 2009 – 2011) this new research initiative addresses and evinces the nature, scope and significance of the “Glocalization” (that is to say, the simultaneous globalization and localization) of the unique female expression and diverse expressiveness which the medium of Manga has helped to create.
This new research will seek to cast light on the social and historical influences of the three major forms of comics, Japanese Manga, American comics and European Bande Dessinée, which have in turn given rise to an Asian localization wave of Manga. From a comparative-cultural perspective, the way that this media has created a new female perspective and form of communication will be elucidated.
　　Before embarking on the research details, three central　terms arising need to be defined:
(a) In this research by “Manga” we mean the recent phenomenon which derived originally from Japan and has subsequently been transformed variously into a global form of Manga.
(b) By “comics” we mean the generic term for the pre-existing form of media combining text and images into a communicative narrative. In contrast, Manga is a generic term for a distinct form and recent phenomenon.
(c) In this research, by “woman” we mean an objectified concept, as opposed to that of “man” which continues to be a more subjectified concept.
The Findings of Manga Research to Date: Female Subjectivity
　　From around the 1970s on, at the same time as new developments in the thinking about feminism and female identity, the introduction of American comics contributed to the evolution of Japanese Shôjo Manga. The research identified the paradox whereby the fields of comics and Manga research were primarily seen from a masculine perspective, objectifying the role and identity of women.
Through its globalization, Shôjo Manga created a watershed in the emergence of its influence on American comics. The twenty first century has witnessed a boom in the number of both the readers and creators of comics, bringing about new perspectives on this medium. With the target audience increasingly female, the number of female editors and producers has also increased remarkably.
　　To what extent this new boom has Feminism in common with the original Manga movement of the 1970s, or whether it is another kind of popularity operating now, are issues that need addressing in this current research.
In recent years it was the initial influence of Manga that stimulated most female comics’ creators in reaction to the otherwise male-culture dominated alternatives in their regions to counterbalance this with greater female subjectivity and sensitivity. However, the overall impetus has in no way been limited to or by this counterbalancing of female subjectivity. That is to say, the regional identities of each Manga-motivated movement have left their own indelible identity on the diverse forms that these expressive developments have taken, thus demonstrating this new phenomenon as something that we may term “Glocalization” simultaneously combining as it does different influences, both international and regional.

The Starting Point and Unique Aspect of the Current Research:
the need to reinvestigate the nature of Manga’s globalization in Asia, America and Europe and redefine it as “Glocalization”
　　Manga’s glocalization in Asia has three background genres, namely those mentioned previously, Japanese Manga, American Comics and European Bande Dessinée, counterbalancing this new phenomenon. The medium of Manga as given rise to by the original Japanese Manga has passed through a localizing filter, and can no longer be defined by or limited to its original stimulus. At the same time, the original concept of “woman” can be seen to have undergone fundamental and irreversible changes if we compare American comics with recent comics in Asia.
　　Therefore this current research will attempt to assess the various forms of cultural expression that are unique to each area, with the new and developing identities of women as a principal focus. This is the independent and central thrust of our research into Women’s Manga.
　　The main points we intend to investigate from now on
(1) Women and “Glocalization”
　　At the International Women’s Manga Convention in February 2011 held at Singapore National University, Singapore, a cultural hub connecting America, Japan and Asia, the Women’s Manga Project Team confirmed the following three points:
① Although historically for the main part, Asian comics culture has been male-centered, in recent years, many female writers have been appearing.
② What has been seen as the new trend in terms of the starting point for many of these female writers has been, not the existing body of comics and Manga per se, but the introduction of a new and independent approach which stresses each woman writer’s own voice and expressive uniqueness.
③ The role and significance of women in comics and Manga has yet to be properly considered.
　　As women have been reduced to a mere minor role in considerations of comics to date, the potential of Manga to generate more personal expressiveness is strongly intertwined with the uniqueness of this new media. The comics artist (and collaborator in our research) Tita was integral from 2008 on in originating the female genre called the “Graphic Diary”. In a similar way, within the cultural sphere of Manga, new female genres have been increasingly in evidence.
(2) Confronting the Nature of the Expressive Medium, Manga
　　In the short history of Manga and its expressive uniqueness, it is essential to consider its connections with the renderings and roles of women in other media. We must also consider the unique forms of expressiveness employed by women in various media against the background of diverse cultures, locations and histories, and taking into account the perspective of the Feminist Revolution. Moreover, and at the same time, we also have to include a deliberation of the expansive field of expressive diversity that is now occurring through the phenomenon of Glocalization. This includes such new literary developments as the aforementioned “Graphic Novel”, Anime and other visual media and activities like “Costume Play” (Cosplay), fan participation and so on, evincing and incorporating the new forms of subjectivity, sensitivity and sensibility in female expressiveness.
(3) “Alternative” as a concept triggered by Manga beyond the mainstream
　　Since the advent of the twenty first century, the Manga boom abroad has grown rapidly in the form of independent non-commercial publications. In comic stores almost everywhere, the independently published women’s works which are displayed separate from mainstream magazines have also been appearing increasingly online. Additionally, their influence has been strongly evident in social network services such as blogs and so on in the form of both creators and readers, outside the scope of mainstream publishers, thus transcending the traditional geographical borders limiting conventional publication, and contributing to Manga’s glocalization.

A Summary of the Present Research Goals:
　　Against the backdrop of the marginalization of the representation of women in comics, Manga has become a medium that increasingly attracts young women. Moreover, with the glocalization in evidence in Asia, this research will seek to examine socio-historically the recent rapid spread of the phenomenon of female expressive subjectivity in Manga, as distinct from any viewpoint offered by theories of culturally symbolic expression.

The Research Methodology
This will elucidate　
・the relationship between the glocalization of Shôjo and Women’s Manga and female subjective expressiveness through the perspective of gender theory, and.
・with especial reference to Asia, the socio-historical elucidation of the aculturalization of Manga and women.

Research Project Officers
・Research Project Representative: Fusami Ogi
(Specialty: American Women’s Comics and Shôjo Manga)
　　Her main research interests include Japanese and international Manga and women’s comics from the perspectives of Feminism and Gender Studies,　She is focusing on Manga and comics as their influence extends from the West through English speaking countries in Asia (such as Singapore, India, Australia and so on) paying particular attention to:
①the historical interaction between Western and Asian women’s comics；
② the spread of Japanese women’s/Shôjo Manga；and,
③the relationship between the feminine expressive modes occurring in Asian Manga and Japanese women’s/Shôjo Manga.

Main Research Collaborators
・Jaqueline Bernt
(Specialty: Manga and Shôjo Manga in socialist and former socialist countries)
　　She has focused her research on Manga and Shôjo Manga in both Eastern European and socialist and former socialist countries in Asia (especially China and Vietnam), with particular on emphasis on:
① the historical and more recent situation surrounding artists, readers and Manga culture in general under political dictatorships；
② the relationship between American and local comics and female targeted Japanese Manga；and,
③ the discourse between “Manga as art” and “Manga as a sub-culture” and the readership of female targeted Japanese Manga
　　She handles liaison with Tokyo International Manga Museum and the Japan Society for Studies in Cartoon and Comics.

・Kotaro Nakagaki
(Specialty: comparative research into the “Graphic Novel” and Manga in Asia, Japan and the West)
　　His main research interest is the re-examination of the historical absence of the awareness of women in American comics through an analysis of the contemporary cultural position that women hold in the USA.
Additionally, his research has been extended to a comparison of the situation in Japan and Asia of the development currently in progress of the “Graphic Novel” of recent years, and to what extent this has arisen out of and via the genres of essay Manga and autobiographical Manga.
　　He is responsible for core materials gathering and database preparation, as well as for cooperation with the International Exchange Division of the Japan Society for Studies in Cartoon and Comics.

・Yukari Yoshihara
(Specialty: Western and Asian Views of Manga)
　　She is part of the team which has translated the Manga Shakespeare series (London: Independent Publisher SelfMadeHero, 2007) for the non-English-speaking world from the original English into such languages as Korean, Japanese, Spanish and Chinese. As part of her activities, she has analyzed Manga as high level pop culture and as the globalization of local culture. She has liaised between European Manga artists and Asian researchers as part of her research into the connections in Manga culture between Western and Asian women writers.

・Kazumi Nagaike
(Specialty: subjective expressiveness in the “queer” culture of Shôjo and women’s Manga)
　　Her research concerns the comparative cultural study of “queer” Manga (as in the male homosexual love themes of Yaoi/Boy’s Love and female lesbian themes of “Yuri”) and related abnormal love themes through the subjective expressiveness of the female perspective.
　　She has been active in the research network that extends through Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia.

・Akiko Sugawa
(Specialty: female subjective expressiveness in non-Manga media)
　　Her research focuses on visual media like anime, costume play, fan networks (“Fandom”) in the form of a quantitative and qualitative survey by age, gender and so on.

Ancillary Research Collaborators
・John A. Lent
　　He is a full professor at Temple University, America, and a leading authority in comics research. He liaises with comic artists and researchers in Asia and America, coordinating the dissemination of information relating to research results. He is chief editor of International Journal of Comic Art, Popular Culture Association and International Comics Art Forum and integral in academic organization operations.
　　Against the backdrop of the marginalization of the representation of women in comics, Manga has become a medium that increasingly attracts young women. Moreover, with the glocalization in evidence in Asia, this research will seek to examine socio-historically the recent rapid spread of the phenomenon of female expressive subjectivity in Manga, as distinct from any viewpoint offered by theories of culturally symbolic expression.