Janet CollinsJapan Now Top in International Pop Culture
December 15th 2008 19:20
The Drops of God comic
Japan, once regarded as superior in car manufacturing, television sets, computers and just about everything electronic, has been slowly but surely making its mark in the area of popular culture.
Way beyond the computer-game craze or the mad endurance sporting quests that once seemed to be their moniker, the Japanese are now making their worldwide mark in restaurant dining, fashion, entertainment and comic books.
In an article in the Christian Science Monitor this month, Amelia Newcomb, explains just how the Japanese have grabbed the spotlight on worldwide popular culture so much that even Hollywood looks to the Japanese for inspiration.
Brother and sister team, Shin and Yuko Kibayashi, who write under various pennames, create comic book stories of fantasy that have taken Japan and the world by storm. Their works have included a detective series, the Kindaichi Case Files, Shoot about soccer and The Drops of God, an adult series that focuses on wine. The Drops of God is not only read by 500,000 Japanese weekly but it very popular in France and Korea.
The Drops of God is something unusual for a comic book. It follows the adventures of the main character , Shizuku Kanzaki, as he learns about wine. Amost the prodigal son of a wine critic, Shizuku has rebelled against his father by refusing to drink wine and working for a brewery.
Things change when his father dies and he must catch up on his knowledge of wine in order to inherit his father’s vast cellar. It is this journey into the knowledge of wine that the comic strip follows.
The comic is published every Thursday in a Japanese magazine “The Weekly Morning” and has gained such influence that Japanese wine sellers grab copies of the magazine as soon as it comes out. The wines promoted in the comic are then promoted in their stores and on their websites.
The Kibayashis attribute the success of their comics to the ordinariness of the characters and that the characters are more real than those in Hollywood movies.
Roland Kelts, professor at the University of Tokyo and author of “Japanamerica: How the Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S.” says of the success of manga: “The American 20th-century idea of the individual superhero is wearing thin.
“The Japanese model is of self-denial and the sublimination of selfish desires for the sake of group harmony. This is becoming a multipolar world. The desire to be a part of something harmonious rather than the leader of a pack is growing”.
Maybe we should all be looking to Japan for what is likely to be the next international craze.
Information sourced from:
The Christian Science Monitor
International Herald Tribune
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