Incidentally David McNeil and I did a joint interview of the former mayor of the Tokyo Immiration Bureau in 2006, who now runs a NGO that works to secure the release of Japanese abducted by North Korea.
Anthony xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Anthony P. D'Costa Professor of Indian Studies Asia Research Centre Copenhagen Business School Porcelænshaven 24, 3 DK-2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark Email:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Ph: +45 3815 2572 Fax: +45 3815 2500 http://uk.cbs.dk/arc www.cbs.dk/india xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx On Sat, Nov 22, 2008 at 12:07 PM, McDonough, Terrence < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Manga publications are capitalising on Japan's insecurities, writes David > McNeill in Tokyo > > KARL MARX, who predicted that capitalism would crumble under the weight of > its own contradictions, is making a comeback - in the form of a comic. > > More than 140 years after Marx's Das Kapital (Capital) was released on an > unsuspecting and initially baffled world, its dense meditation on political > economy and alienation is to be splashed across speech bubbles on the pages > of a Japanese manga. > > Set for release at the start of next month, Reading Das Kapital through > Manga is expected to top the comic bestseller lists, following the success > of a string of popular publications capitalising on Japan's growing > inequalities and economic insecurity. > > The world's second-largest economy has slipped into recession for the first > time since 2001, despite a $275 billion government stimulus package designed > to insulate it from the impact of the global financial tsunami. > > More than one-third of the workforce is already part-time and with profits > diving even at manufacturing powerhouses like Sony and Toyota, millions of > young people express deep pessimism about the future. > > The economic turmoil has provided fertile ground for critics of free-market > capitalism, new and old. A manga rendering of The Crab Ship (Kanikosen), a > grimy 1930s proletarian classic about the exploitation of workers aboard a > fishing boat, stunned Tokyo-based publisher East Press this year by shifting > more than half a million copies. > > Several introductions to Capital and other Marxist tomes have been rushed > out since and a book by a former broker berating the sticky-fingered bankers > of Wall Street has become one of the year's fastest non-fiction sellers. > > "Poverty has been a growing and visible problem for some time, but now > people are looking for answers about why it is returning," said Kaori > Katada, a lecturer in social welfare. "That's why they're turning to these > books." > > Japan's prolific comic culture has for years distilled complex issues into > pocket-sized, graphic books that can be read in the office or during long > commutes. History, war and the country's tortured relationship with China > have all been grist to manga artists; East Press, publisher of the comic Das > Kapital, has a catalogue of unusual titles including Leo Tolstoy's War and > Peace , Dante's Divine Comedy, Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf and Shakespeare's > King Lear . > > Sneak previews suggest that the comic Das Kapital has not shirked on the > key details of Marx's forbidding original. Exploited salary-men are seen > slowly coming to terms with the bearded philosopher's central analysis: that > they are the sole source of capitalism's wealth. > > Along the way, they are treated to a tour of commodity fetishism, the > labour theory of value and the law of declining profits. Ultimately, explain > the speech bubbles, capitalism creates its own gravediggers - the workers > who create its wealth - although it's doubtful that Marx ever envisioned > them armed with graphic novels. > > While there are few signs that the novel's ideas have translated to major > political activity, there have been recent signs of life on the > once-moribund left. > > A march last month by anti- poverty campaigners on the Tokyo house of prime > minister Taro Aso, aimed at calling attention to his considerable wealth, > made headlines after the police shut it down and arrested several activists. > > A video of the arrests has since become an underground phenomenon, earning > tens of thousands of views on YouTube. > > "I think many young people in Japan are afraid of the future and that fear > is sometimes turning to anger," said Kosuke Hashimoto, one of the activists > who took part in that march. "Reading comics might only be the start." > > This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > --
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