Uniquely Japan

Uniquely Japan is one of several travel guidebooks that I purchased for my upcoming trip to Japan. Most of them are in comic strip format. Three have been written by Abby Denson! She also wrote Cool Japan Guide and Cool Tokyo Guide which I will review later this month. Denson has used her own drawings and photographs in this book. There are chapters devoted to Arts and crafts, fun things to do, fashion, food, high tech toilets, Japanese creatures. and street sights.

I have learned to look down at the ground to see lavishly decorated manhole covers, pink polka-dotted backhoes, and toilets with warmable seats and blow dryers. I now know that I can get my ramen from a vending machine and I will see silly mascots promoting serious businesses and whimsical architecture for neighborhood police stations. Denson also discusses several types of sweets available in Japan, which is important to me! However, I have already begun researching sweets by ordering boxes of sweets and tea directly from Japan.

Uniquely Japan is a nice resource to have. While it is in no way a comprehensive guide, I know that there are a few things I will remember due to the comic strip format.  I am rating it 4 out of 5 stars. 

Displacement

Displacement is a graphic novel about the internment of the Japanese in America during WWII.  I have read 2 other comics on this subject and they all gave the same information. In this story our heroine Kiku is on vacation in San Francisco where her family is from. The displacements begin when she magically finds herself transported back to the 1940s when her grandmother Ernestina was forced to relocate to an internment camp. Living alongside her young grandmother and other Japanese-American citizens in internment camps, Kiku gets the education she never received in history class. She witnesses the lives of Japanese-Americans who were denied their civil liberties and suffered greatly, but managed to cultivate community and commit acts of resistance in order to survive.

What separates this account of the tragedy from others is the illustration. I like that the comic strips were larger, with 4 to a page. It made the dialogue much larger for me to be able to read on a cell phone. When reading other comics on my phone, I have to enlarge the page in order to be able to read. Then I have to reduce the page in order to turn the page. Author Kiku Hughes drew all the illustrations. This is her first graphic novel and I am very impressed with both her ability to tell a story and her drawing skill.

Hughes makes many insightful quotes in her book. One of them is:  "I think sometimes a community's experience is so traumatic, it stays rooted in us even generations later. And the later generations continue to rediscover that experience, since it's still shaping us in ways we might not realize. Like losing the ability to speak Japanese, losing connection to Japanese culture, they're all lasting impacts of the camps that travel down the generations." I never realized before that the generation who suffered through the internment experience would raise their children to be American, not Japanese. They felt it would make successive generations safer from the government. They made sure their descendants did not know how to speak Japanese or cook Japanese food. It was a strategy that the entire generation followed.

Displacement gives an honest history of the internment camps run by the U. S. government during WWII. While it is a sad story, it is one we all should know about. 5 out of 5 stars. 

The Way of the House Husband Volume 11

The Way of the House Husband is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kousuke Oono. Published in the online manga magazine Bunch Comics since 2018, Volume 11 was published on January 1, 2021. The series has been filmed for  Netflix but I haven't seen it. The Way of the House Husband follows Tatsu, an infamous and feared yakuza boss nicknamed "the Immortal Dragon" who retires from crime to become a househusband so that he can support wife Miku. The episodic series depicts a variety of comedic scenarios, typically wherein Tatsu's banal domestic work as a househusband is juxtaposed against his intimidating personality and appearance, and his frequent run-ins with former yakuza associates and rivals.

Tatsu found that it was not easy to walk away from the gangster life. What should have been mundane household tasks are anything but. In this installment of the series Tatsu must help Masa move his operation to a new pad, and fast, after the cocky kid lands himself in trouble with the wrong enforcer, his landlady! There’s just one catch  the kid lacks the funds to make any big moves. Luckily for Masa, the Immortal Dragon has some househusband tricks up his sleeve to transform even the cheapest, shadiest apartment into a comfortable place! The funniest thing Tatsu does in this volume is to buy a professional grade laundry dehumidifier that will dry his clothes indoors. The reader also gets a drawing showing the humidifier drying his clothing. Four pages were devoted to this subplot which should give you a sense of the flow of the book.

I don't usually read manga because the romantic stories I usually see are rather sappy. The Way of the Househusband is different but it still retains the Japanese sense of humor as one would expect from a Japanese author. However, I don't share that type of humor. It seems to me that I have been forcing myself to read these volumes because a comic fan should be a manga fan, right? Well it hasn't worked out for me. While I have enjoyed the premise of the series and loved reading about many of Tatsu's adventures, I think it's time to cease reading the series. Volume 12 will be coming out soon but I will skip it.

3 put of 5 stars.

Animal Pound 1 and 2

Animal Pound is a hilarious 4 part comic book series where the caged animals stage a take over of the pound. Led by a cat called Fifi and dog Titan the doors to all of the cages are unlocked and all of the cats, dogs and rabbits roam freely throughout the building and grounds. Author Tom King and illustrator Peter Gross give us an updated version of Animal Farm for 21st century America, where a two-party system gives way to fear and facism. Volume 1 was released on December 20, 2023. 

Animal Pound #1 opens with an old dog named Lucky talking to a kitten named Fifi. Her explains that he is going to be euthanized the next day but before he goes Lucky explains how unfair the world is for animals. He hopes that some day the animals will rebel against the humans who control them and become free. Several years go by and Fifi is still in the pound. A new dog named Titan is scheduled to be put down the next day. The two of them decide that they must enact the escape plan that they have been working on. Fifi rallies the rest of the cats and Titan rallies all of the dogs. When the next day comes they enact their plan. While Titan distracts the humans working at the pound, Fifi opens the cages. The dogs are able to expel the guards. Volume 2 shows the animals trying to come up with a government that works for all of them.

Animal Pound has no violence or foul language and is suitable for young children. The story is a fast and fascinating read and I highly recommend it. I am looking forward to reading the next volume when it is released on April 17, 2023.

Seoul Before Sunrise

Seoul Before Sunrise is French cartoonist Samir Dahmani's first graphic novel to be translated into English. It is scheduled for publication by Humanoids on May 21, 2024. Thanks to Net Galley I received an advanced review copy of it. The book follows a young woman who sparks an unlikely friendship with a stranger and begins walking the streets of Seoul with her at night.

The publisher's summary:

Longtime friends Seong-ji and Ji-won are excited to begin university in Seoul, swearing to stay close in the big city, but from the moment they arrive, they begin to drift apart.

Her focus split between her rigorous accounting program and her overnight job at a grocery store, Seong-ji tries to make peace with the loss. It’s during her overnight shifts that she encounters an enigmatic young woman who spends her nights entering the empty homes of other people to paint and photograph these places. Now, the normally rational Seong-ji finds herself swept up in a dreamlike otherworld, made up of freedom and creativity. As she explores these quiet places, she uncovers not only an intimate portrait of strangers, but perhaps even herself.

But as the nocturnal walks reveal the possibilities of the future, they also force her to relive the pain of her lost friendship with Ji-won…

This is a coming-of-age story where Seong-Ji eventually discovers that she is in love with her childhood friend Ji-won. When she finally tells Ji-won of her feelings, Ji-won is horrified and immediately ends their friendship. However, Seong-Ji has found a new friend in the stranger, a ghost, who befriended her at the store she works at. The ghost helps Seong-Ji see life more clearly through the lens of that liminal space between the end of the night but before the sun rises.

Seoul Before Sunrise is an emotional and sad story. I felt bad for Seong-ji as she waited day after day for contact from her childhood friend. She was an unhappy person due to the loss of this friendship. Seong-ji admitted to herself that she doesn't make friends easily and didn't have any other friends. She was lonely. When Ji-won finally contacts her 149 days after they arrived in Seoul, she is ecstatic. The story ends with the ghost entering the store looking for Seong-ji. However, she no longer was employed there because she was fired for leaving the premises during her shift. It's a sad ending but realistic. The artwork was done in watercolor by the author. One of his paintings was selected for the book cover. He has a diffuse style that perfectly fits a story that takes place in Korea. 5 out of 5 stars.

Lunar New Year Love Story

 

I adore Gene Lien Yang's graphic novels. They are always comical and light reading even is the topic is serious. His novels are also clean reading, no sex or foul language. I was not aware of his newest title until last week and immediately bought a copy. It is fantastic! This one is about a couple who cannot get it together during their senior year of high school. There are a few magical creatures as characters as befitting a Chinese story.

The publisher's summary:  

She was destined for heartbreak. Then fate handed her love.

Val is ready to give up on love. It's led to nothing but secrets and heartbreak, and she's pretty sure she's cursed—no one in her family, for generations, has ever had any luck with love.

But then a chance encounter with a pair of cute lion dancers sparks something in Val. Is it real love? Could this be her chance to break the family curse? Or is she destined to live with a broken heart forever?

Yang gives us realistic characters. Valentina, or Val, grew up with just one parent, her father. When she finds out the he lied about her mother' death she stops speaking with him for almost a year. Val's best friend Bernice is also raised by a single parent, her mother. Bernice cannot stand to be without a boyfriend and within 24 hours of a break up she finds a new love. We all knew someone like that when we were growing up. Val is the complete opposite. The boys in the story are typical Chinese Americans while their parents live a very Chinese life in the U.  S. 

Another reason I enjoy Yang's novels is that they are the same length as a traditional novel. Lunar is approximately 350 pages. This allows him to create full formed characters and an extensive plot. The relationships among the kids in the story revolve around lion dancing. They are all taking a class on how to dance under a lion costume, as you would normally see at the Chinese new year and other special occasions. Val's relationships with two boys generally take place while they are sharing a costume to dance under. Val cannot decide which boy she really loves. A magical dragon has given her one year to find true love. If she fails then she must give the dragon her heart and foreswear future love interests. Val believes that her family will always be unlucky in love and is not sure that she can find true love.

The illustrations by Leuyen Pham are gorgeous. She has used primarily a red and pink color pallet to fit with Val's love of Valentine's Day. There are some panels colored in blues and greens but all the colors are bright as I like them. Her character's faces illuminate their emotions so when there is no dialogue in a panel strip, the reader knows how the characters are feeling. 

Lunar New Year Love Story is the perfect Valentine's Day story. It would make a great gift for both kids and adults who like comics.  I am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.