NEWSWORTHY
Manga and kabuki collide in an action-packed 'Naruto'
Here's a sight you may not expect at a kabuki performance: A blue-haired boy bolts toward a massive snake that writhes menacingly on stage. He brings his sword down on the beast, slicing it into sections that fall apart dramatically. I thought a kabuki ...
'Sensei Kunshu': Looking for love in all the wrong places
Student crushes on teachers are a pop culture staple (ask any Van Halen fan). In real life, they're a minefield, with trip wires becoming ever more sensitive. "Sensei Kunshu," Momoko Koda's hit manga about a teenage girl (Minami Hamabe) goo-goo-eyed over a handsome math teacher ...
"I still feel the loneliness of being hikikomori. Maybe I'm successful, maybe not. I can't tell. But I still feel the loneliness. The only difference now is that I can express my loneliness, my pain, and all those feelings in my writing. They don't ...
Japan is starting to embrace a new genre of manga featuring elderly people as the leading characters. "Sanju Mariko" is a story about Mariko, a widow and writer who at the age of sanju, Japanese for 80, sets out from the home she has shared ...
Meiji University president sees new Japan-China relationship evolving through manga
Believing pop culture such as manga and anime will help establish a foundation for stable relations between Japan and China, Meiji University President Keiichiro Tsuchiya has been promoting bilateral exchanges through lectures on cultural topics at Peking University. Efforts by Tsuchiya, 71, include a lecture ...
'Akira': Looking back at the future
On the 30th anniversary of the release of the animated version of 'Akira' in Japan, we examine the enduring legacy of Katsuhiro Otomo's sci-fi classic.
The enduring appeal of 'Akira,' the manga
Katsuhiro Otomo's cyberpunk masterpiece, "Akira," has gone through multiple English-language incarnations throughout the years, but reader demand has never wavered.
Views from Tokyo: Do you remember the first time you watched 'Akira'?
People in Shibuya offer their thoughts on Katsuhiro Otomo's classic 1988 film and the 1982 manga series.
Popular baseball manga series "Dokaben" ended its 46-year run with a final entry published in a weekly comic magazine released Thursday. Many people in their 40s and 50s who had read the series by Shinji Mizushima as youngsters reminisced about how they learned about baseball ...
Can Japanese 'light novels' remain publishing heavyweights?
Two years ago, light novel publisher Kadokawa added Thailand to its list of foreign publishing investments, which already includes Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and the United States. Now there are signs that English-language readers are catching on.
Japan's cosplay culture proving a hit in typically conservative India
Cosplay culture is gaining popularity in conservative India, where the Japanese hobby has drawn comparisons with a Hindu festival tradition. Comic Con India, a cosplay and pop culture event, has been held since 2011 in major cities and proven to be a hit, especially among ...
'Dokaben' baseball manga series to end after nearly half a century
"Dokaben," a popular Japanese baseball manga series that has been published on and off in a weekly magazine since 1972, will end its run in the next issue due out on June 28. Its publisher, Akita Publishing Co., announced the end of the series in ...
