“On the other hand, how many comic books written 30 years ago are still worth talking about today?”

In a couple years one of the most successul anime/manga franchise of all time Mobile Suite Gundam will be 30 years old with no end in sight.
more common then rereading novels.

“How often does one read a comic book a third time?”

Its very common amongst people who actually read manga.

The real lack of respect for anime and manga exists because so many people try to asses it with very little exposure or knowledge about it. Reading about modern visual culture without immersion just creates a bunch of old ignorant experts who are behind the times.

I first got interested in Japan through anime way back when i was about 7 and im still interested in it to this day. It led me on to all aspects of Japanese culture, however i would still say it is one of the reasons for wanting to live in Japan. Im studying Business and Japanese and am one of the top students in my class. And in my experience as well all my friends i can think of who watched anime and read manga learnt about other Japanese cultural points as well.

Ah. The Force is strong with this one.

One thing is for sure though, every fanboy needs to realize that Ultraman and Touch and Macross (or whatever your fancy) is just one aspect of Japan, and that you need to branch out eventually. To paraphrase Emperor Palpatine, “If one is to become a complete and rounded person, you must embrace… a larger view of Japan.”

The problem I see is that people like that Shinto priest have an outdated and romantic view of the “Japanese essence,” as if there is such a thing. Shinto is just as much an invented tradition as the ninja. Foreigners can be just as guilty in this romanticism (see: The Last Samurai, for example. By which I mean, DON’T see it, it sucks.) People who persist in their interest in Japan, and who advance even a little in academia, get their rose-colored glasses torn off pretty damn quick.

I run a book club at my University, and this semester we did something new by reading a series of manga volumes. We had a great discussion last week on the the reflections that 9/11 and the War on Terror have had on manga.

Bluntly speaking, if you think there is no academic value in studying manga, then you need to work on sharpening your analytical skills. I don’t think there is a problem with making something like anime or manga your main field of study, but rather a problem with the quality of the students. Most people would rather just consume manga than study it. Any student worth a grain of salt should realize that it’s impossible to achieve a good understanding of manga without also studying other aspects of Japanese culture.

Well, that depends on the quality of the manga. Akira, 20th Century Boys, Blame, Lone Wolf And Cub (great way to discover 17th century Japan btw) and Planetes, are just a few examples of mangas that are able to surprise you everytime you read them. Always something new to discover. Heck, throw Hajime No Ippo and Gantz in that list

I think that one thing the academic quoted in the article was trying to say is that it’s somewhat difficult to accomodate an influx of students who go to Japan for the sole purpose of studying manga and anime. Since these things aren’t the main thrust of an academic institution’s program of study (if they study it at all), it’s hard to know what to do with students who apply to universities or exchange programs for that purpose alone.

If, say, you were to apply to a university in Japan because you wanted to study “the use of graffiti in anti-war protests during the 1940s” then a university would understand how to evaluate such a proposal — or at least, this is how things worked classically.

The professor in the article seems to be saying, though, that we can’t count on people to want to come to Japan anymore for these kinds of “academic friendly” reasons, and that teachers need to be more creative and open-minded to find ways to interest younger people in many facets of Japan.

And this seems to be what many of you are saying — that you got interested in Japan for one reason or another (a woman, a book, etc.) and then were drawn further into the culture (we have you now!).

I will say I was a little freaked out to see how the store had been reorganized — I guess they are making more of a committment to their American/youthful customers and I’d never thought of Kinokuniya that way before. My initial reaction was; “What? Are you trying to be like Barnes and Noble and Borders? Why?”

Thanks to everyone who posted on this subject, and to Mike for speaking up in the first place. Ray, I am with you about the food. It is a major reason to love Japan. Wah. I’m thinking now of all the meals I’m missing! A big welcome to Sparky Stark — I hope you keep posting. It’s always nice when people come out of lurking. And Paul — they say that voter turnout is low due to apathy. I’m sure that is partly true. But there sure are a lot of people here who yell and complain massively. From my own I think perspective, TPTB need to find a way to make voting standardized and easy, but I’m afraid we are a ways away from this happening.

I didn’t mean to say anime and manga is the only reason to be interested in Japan, but if it happens to be the primary reason, why is that such a bad thing?

Because it makes westerners look like nerdy otakus in the eyes of their Japanese peers? …oh, well, too bad for you.

Let me clarify that I’ve been reading this blog for a year now and have wanted to visit Japan for the longest time (finally did last year and will be there abroad next semester), but I’ve never read a single manga or willfully watched an anime on my own. It’s not that I hate the stuff and try my best to avoid it; I just never cared. There’s much more to Japan and Asia than that…seems like you imply it woudln’t be worth getting into without that specific division of entertainment.
Want a good reason? Here’s one: the food.

Perhaps you misunderstand my position. If people want to read manga, fine. If that gets them interested in Japan, fine. But if you attend university and sit in a class to study manga, well, it’s your money.

I’ve read my share of comic books, and as I mentioned before, at least one series was worth the time. It didn’t involve much in the way of study, however. I just bought the books, looked up the words I didn’t know, and noted cultural differences. It was pretty straightforward. Didn’t need a teacher with a Ph.D. for that.

As for “get used to it”, well, that’s kind of funny. I’m “used to” there being a McDonald’s or something similar on street corners everywhere I go. That doesn’t mean I actually go inside and eat any of that stuff. And if people choose to do that, that’s fine by me, too.

Just because it exists and is popular doesn’t make it real food.

Yes, there’s no right or wrong here, well said. Whatever gets you in the door.

In my case, it was a woman. Met her in Alaska. Followed her back to Tokyo. Knew nothing about Japan and had very little interest in it….until that moment.

Whatever gets you in the door….

And as for ever getting to “fully know” a country or a culture, nobody can do this, even the local people don’t understand their own country or culture fully…….

this has been a great discussion, above.

I can’t believe the stuffy old snob approach some of you guys are taking to this. Anime and martial arts are what got me interested in Japan (and Asia in general) and the interests spread out from there as I got older. There’s no right or wrong here.

I actually became interested in Japan through anime and manga I was introduced to in middle school, it’s not a bad introduction to Japan really. By the time I was in late high school I was reading up on Japanese history, culture, traditional fashions, and I took up a big interest in Kabuki and Noh. I’m now studying Japanese language in college, and hope to major in East Asian Languages and Cultures with an emphasis in Japanese. If it wasn’t for my introduction to Japan through the means of anime and manga, I’m sure I would have come to find this intense interest in time, but it would have taken me longer to discover it. Am I still watching a lot of anime, and reading a ton of manga? Not so much, but that doesn’t stop me from picking up a graphic novel every once in a while for a guilty pleasure.

Sure the fad here in America is really growing wider and wider, and a lot of teens and young adults have somewhat skewed views of Japan because of it, but for some of those people they’ll eventually start reading up on the culture and go: “Hey! There is a lot more here than just anime and manga.”

Most of the kids I know who are going to go to school who are going to take Japanese so they can move there and live out their favorite storyline drop Elementary Japanese 1. In my Japanese 1 class there was a student arguing with the teacher and the text book because ‘cartoon’ was used in a reference and displayed the characters for “manga” next to it. He actually had a hissy fit over the fact that anime was a cartoon and manga was a comic book, not taking into account both are ‘cartoons’, cartoon animation and cartoon book. The rabid fandom can also be irritating, trust me I know very well, I work for two anime/comic conventions in the Chicago area (Anime Central, and Reactor). I don’t see anything wrong with anime or manga being your starting point for your Asian interests, what bothers me are the people who never get past the phase where all their information on the country is through this form of entertainment because they’re really missing out on a very unique culture.

Sorry for the long post guys.

Just like the USA exports Hollywoodism around the world, for good and for bad, Japan now has manga to export and the world is eating it up.

Why not? It’s part of modern Japan, and it’s cool. It has become a cultural industry.