Stereotyping in Japan
The next section is on the application of manga in the education process in Japan. This section reveals clearly that manga has been applied in education is Japan and distill being used for educational textbooks. There is a section on the economical nature of manga. Manga has provided Japan with a considerable amount of income and is continuing to do so. The traditional gender roles in Japan are discussed. This section is used to link to the section on manga and the mainstream culture. The aim here is to find out how manga is a reflection of the mainstream culture in the country. The last part of the paper is a discussion of the counterarguments and then a conclusion summing up the entire paper.
Gender Stereotypes Presented in Japanese Manga and Anime
Introduction
Japan is thought as a country that is weird and surrounded with strange cultures and customs. It is a country whose traditions and customs have persisted for very many years. Some traditional cultures in Japan are still prevalent in the modern Japanese society. The role of females in Japan is a hotly debated topic in media in the modern Japan (Buruma, 1985). There are various definitions of the contemporary Japanese woman by the popular culture. Some of these definitions are clearly stereotypic. A stereotype is an ordinary belief about a particular social group or types of community based on gender, race, culture or religion. Stereotypes are consistent and simplified notions of groups of people based on past postulations. Gender stereotyping, is common in the whole world and is a noteworthy phenomena in private and public levels of relations. Stereotyping descriptions of men and women personality are prevalent in intra- and inter-gender conversations as well as in media. Women are shown by media as being dominated by males, controlled by emotions, emotional and dependence, they are also shown as being weaker and less intelligent than men. The responsibility assigned to women by the society tends to be marital and family oriented. Traditionally, women are rarely shown to be capable of combining marriage and employment. Men on the other hand are shown to be strong, domineering and tend to acquire official employment. In the current era of enlightenment and information technology, some of these traditionally held beliefs are supposed to be eradicated. This is not the case with Japan. In Japan, one aspect that has led to an increase in stereotyping is the popular culture (Dunn, 1983). This paper is an analysis of the content and images relating to gender in a viewers perspective when comparing it with the doctrine of femalemale roles in Japan, suggested by the established experts on Japanese gender issues.
Manga and anime
Animation is one example of the popular culture in Japan that can be used to explain the place given to the woman in society. This aspect of art is also a reflection of gender roles in Japan. Through analysis of animation in the country it is easy to find out the way the modern Japanese woman is viewed in and by the society. Popular culture is described as the culture of the masses. This is the reason why this culture has considerable effect to the society. One form of animation in the country is manga and anime, which is used to refer to the comic books or comics in general. Manga has influenced stereotyping in Japan as well as in other countries around the world through importation and translation to local languages (Greenfield, 1994). The effects of manga are not only felt in the country because they are been exported to other countries like the United States and also influenced the art on a global scale. In majority genres of manga, women are shown as being lesser-beings than men. There are various examples of manga that reveal the aspect of women as their place being at home carrying out domestic roles. This is revealed in examples like Maison Ikkoku by Takahansi. In this comic, the leading character, Mrs. Ichinose, stays at home to take care of her home and cater for her son. This is often in mens manga. Manga is categorized according to the target group as well as their content. Manga can be grouped into three categories economic, erotic and violent (Dunn, 1983).
Manga magazines are rated to ensure that they are not accessible to children who are not supposed to view them. Manga magazines produced in Japan are basically for specific category of readers. They target different age groups as well as other groups, like those of girls or boys. For example, the Shojo manga Zashi are for elementary level children and seinen-shi for senior high school children. Such magazines are rated according to age, to ensure that they are accessed by the group that they are intended for. Nevertheless, there is no way of preventing children to access manga that is not for their age category, because there is no strictly followed regulation for manga (Greenfield, 1994).
History
Animation and comics is a subject that has a long history in Japan. In fact the history of manga can be traced to the 12th century at the time when bishop Toba began to draw comic images of animals and birds for entertainment purpose (Levi, 1996). This was long before the invention of the paper, when man was using the scrolls. Whether the work of Toba was real manga is still a subject of debate, but whatever it was, it was the foundation of the contemporary manga. There are authors who claim that manga originated in the 18th century. Researchers on the history of manga have come up with two general explanations and processes that shaped the development of modern manga (Lin, 2008). They views might slightly differ but they all agree that modern manga was shaped by cultural and historical happenings following the Second World War vs., the events of Meiji and the Pre-Meiji traditions and arts. The success of the current manga industry began after the end of the Second World War, at the period when the Western comics were imported and had a considerable influence on the Japanese public (Gravett, 2004).
Modern manga specifically came up in the Occupation era, that is, between the year 1945 and 1952, and Post-Occupation period, that is, between 1952 and the beginning of 1960s. This was the period when Japan was being rebuilt both economically and politically after the war. Despite the fact that the United States Occupation censorship laws banned art and literature that adored the war, the laws did not stop the proliferation of other types of art, like the manga. Additionally, the 1947, constitution of the country banned all kinds of censorship (Lin, 2008). This was the reason behind the proliferation of creative art during this period. There are especially two types of manga that impacted on the history of manga in Japan (Taylor and Goncharoff, 1981). The first one was Might Atom by Osamu Tezuka. The second one was Sazae-san by Machiko Hasegawa. After this period there was no turning back on the development of manga. It was from this period that manga that reflected the role of women and women as sexual objects started to be developed. There is a depiction of the super woman character in manga, but despite this fact, there are aspects of bias where the main female character helps to support the weaker male character so that their status can be on the same level. This is a reflection of the society and still apparent in the modern Japanese community (Dunn, 1983).
Through the elimination of censorship in Japan, there was freedom for the designers of manga to come up with some that had extreme sexual depiction. This particularly became more serious in the 1990s. During this time, there emerged a variety of sexual themes that targeted male audience. These themes ranged from easygoing partial nakedness to indirect and open sexual acts to bondage and SM, bestiality, and rape. In some extreme cases, rape and lust appeared in the forefront (Dunn, 1983).
Educational purposes
In Japan comics and animation are contained in magazines and books for entertainment purposes. This is unlike in the United States where they are contained in newspapers. The different genres are mostly contained in the magazines. There is the aspect of including comics and animation in academic books for instructional purposes. For example, in 1984, educational comic was created as a question that was incorporated in an exam in a public university.
In the year 1985, comic works designed by various artists were included in elementary textbooks for Japanese schools. That trend is still evident in the current academic setup (Gravett, 2004).
Manga is still being used in the Japanese education textbooks. An example of such a project is the production of textbooks for the students of Japanese as a second language. The textbooks have manga stories instead of having text only. In 2006, there was an announcement authorizing the use of a manga textbook as a school text. This text came up on the results as a mathematics textbook for high school. Nevertheless, its editor had to remove a considerable amount of its manga-related content. The idea behind the use of manga textbook is because students are never in interested in mathematics and science. Another example of manga use in textbooks is The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology (Lin, 2008). This is a book written by a professor in biology. By incorporating manga into instructional materials increases interest in the subjects that students consider difficult. However, there have been debates as to whether manga is an appropriate content in school texts. It is thus evident that manga has been an element in instructional contents since the idea of incorporating it was developed. The rationale behind the use of manga in textbooks is to make the students understand better. The supporters of the use of manga have argued that it is the best way of introducing hard subjects those that students find hard to understand. These are thus the best way of popularizing manga in schools and thus help in promoting the problems of stereotyping among the young people (Gravett, 2004).
The critics of manga for schools have argued that the contents are likely to corrupt the minds of the students. Manga has been a subject for controversy for a very long time, and to introduce such a controversial subject to teach the students is detrimental. Students are supposed to be taught using the textbooks available and be made to understand. It is the students that are supposed to adapt to and understand the language of the textbook, not for the textbook to be lowered to the level of the students. With controversy in the content of manga, one cannot help but wonder whether the use of comics as instructional material is a good idea (Greenfield, 1994).
Manga is believed to communicate various messages on different aspects of life. They pass messages on social and political matters. There is a generally held notion in Japan that comics are very important in their culture and that they have a lot to communicate about culture just like films and novels. They can communicate history, ideas of love, and positive attitudes towards work, among other aspects of life. Due to this characteristic of the comics, they are trusted by the community as educative in nature and those that can move ones heart just like real life stories. The same aspect that is held by the society as positive has detrimental effects on the minds of the children who are not in a position to tell the difference between reality and fantasy (Lin, 2008).
Economy
The initial purpose of manga in the history of Japan was entertainment and education. Nevertheless, the fact that there is economic benefit accrued from it cannot be denied. Despite the fact that manga was initially designed for entertainment, the realization of the commercial benefit that could be accrued from it led to its commercialization. Although manga gained popularity after the end of the Second World War, its economic nature became apparent in the 1980s (Taylor and Goncharoff, 1981).
This industry continued to thrive and has now become a multi-million dollar enterprise that has impacted positively to the economy of the country. In the country every person regardless of age reads manga. Manga is so addictive. As a result, children begin reading it from when they are young continues through their youth, until when they are adults. The 1950s, manga has gradually become a major part of the countrys publishing industry. In the year 2007, the industry represented approximately 406 billion yen market in the country. The industry has also gained popularity internationally (Lin, 2008). On an international perspective, the industry benefits the economy of the country by selling genres that are suitable for categories of viewers whether males or females. In the year 2008, the manga market in the United States and Canada was about 175 million dollars. This is a trend that is not likely to change. Therefore, the country is assured of a continued economic benefit from this area of publishing. The income from it is also likely to continue due to its increased popularity (Lin, 2008).
The most common genres of manga in Japan are romance, fantasy, drama, and pornography. There are others in sports, business, literary and historical. Due to the coming up of patriarchal societies, the present-day media has become male-dominated. Due to this the pornographic comics are aimed at appealing to heterosexual males around the world. They thus end up corrupting the minds of the viewers, who as a result end up using women as sexual objects. This can be very humiliating to women. Additionally, in some media like anime, women are shown as victims of rape and sexual abuse, where they are portrayed as being subordinate and not subservient. Romance and pornography is the most common content in the contemporary manga (Taylor and Goncharoff, 1981).
Manga has become very popular, not only in Japan, but around the world. As a result they are getting exported to other countries where they are translated to the languages of those countries. Availing manga in local language has made it easy to transmit the corrupt ideals of gender roles and the use of women as sexual objects. The driving factor to the importation of pornographic manga by countries like the United States and similar countries is the economic viability. Due to this they promote the use of sexual material in their countries. The materials that depict women as sexual objects are distributed throughout the world. They also affect the minds of the young people who cannot access them critically. Manga in other countries has also influenced art in those countries (Gravett, 2004).
Gender roles
It is argued that it is still difficult to evaluate what the true role of women in the Japanese culture is. This is because, in this country, men are still dominant. Japan is a country whose culture is partly impacted by the Chinese Confucian. In this kind of culture, every person has his or her place in the society. This is the reason why the western people view Japan as a community where gender roles seems to be fixed. This perception is generally obtained from the media because this is the basic way that the westerners have access to information about the culture. This is a revelation of a country that has extensive gender stereotypes. In terms of occupation, men tend to have positions as leaders whether it is in business or politics. The top positions belong to men and women do nothing to get to such positions. Men who are in families are considered the breadwinners of their families. A most common term used to refer to these men is salary men. They are therefore supposed to work very hard in ensuring that their families are well taken care of. Men have held to the belief that they are supposed to carry the entire burden of providing for their families. As a result, they spend most of their time working, or entertaining themselves so that they can relieve the stress of work (Sumiko, 1993).
Due to the notion about men that is held by the society, they are referred to as very hard working, to the extent of exhaustion. It is from this perception that men end up in bars, drinking, singing karaoke and getting involved with other women besides their wives. The society understands this for it is seen as a way of relieving stress from exhaustion (Sumiko, 1993).
The media reveals women as housewives or homemakers, whose duty is being home to take care of their families. The responsibilities of the woman are thus domestic related. When they are married, this is the role that they perform and let the salary men provide for the family. Where women are in the workforce, their duties reveal clear aspects of stereotyping. They take the positions that are considered as being for women, like teachers, nurses, and office workers where there work is generally clerical. It is not surprising that although Japanese women are in a position to find jobs, they are not allowed the opportunity to establish careers.
These have been the positions taken by women even in the traditional career setup. Another common position given to women is that of being a hostess in a bar. This is a more contemporary version of geisha, where the women given this position continue to entertain men. Just as already mentioned, the women are treated as sexual objects as evidenced by the increase in sex-related entertainment materials in Japanese popular culture (Sumiko, 1993).
Manga and the mainstream culture
Manga and amine are the products of the mainstream culture of Japan. In spite of the developments in technology and enlightenment, the country has somehow managed to maintain some of its conventional culture. It is thus possible even in the current times to find women settled in the roles that have been traditionally theirs and same goes for men. While in many countries this is being fought, it has not been the case in Japan (Craig, 2000).
The treatment of gender roles has undergone a lot of transformations in its history, and manga and anime have been able to capture some of these transformations. In the core of the culture in the country, there are some aspects that are very hard to change. There have been a lot of controversies over gender roles in the country. In spite of the transformations, very little has changed in the view of gender roles in Japan. In fact some of the aspects of unfair treatment on women have been on the increase in Japan. Many people both in and out of Japan have argued that the advocating of females as sexual objects in Japan is almost an epidemic (Craig, 2000).
It is evident that there is a reflection of the Japanese culture in manga. Historically, like all other cultures, Japan has revealed men as dominance and women as submissive. At the period when the country turned into a war-oriented and feudal, women became invisible in the society. This was because they came to be viewed as weak for they could not go out to war. They were left behind taking care of their homes and the children. In short, they became second-class citizens. Many women began to be treated as they have been treated all through the history as commodities, or servants and heir-producing machines. Men came to be free of the social chains and devote to the works that were considered for men. They were viewed as the assets in the community, with women as their supporters and satisfiers of their emotional and sexual needs. The women were supposed to carry out their responsibility submissively (Craig, 2000).
Even where women were trained as samurais and ninjas, there were special weapons for women. It was dishonor to the sword if women touched it. Men likewise were not supposed to handle the naginata. Women were not honored in commenting suicide as was with the men. Instead, they were given the easy way out, which is cutting their throats. Men were given the honor by killing themselves through passing the sword through their abdomen (Craig, 2000).
The macho nature of men is prevalent in the Japanese culture. It is common for Japanese men to order their wives around. They develop the tendency of using the first names of their wives. Wives are supposed to respect and submit to their husbands. While women refer to their wives with respect, it is not common for men to reciprocate. In work situations, females are the last to get employed and they are usually the first ones to get terminated. Women may fail to be hired, even if they are qualified. This is because of the general belief that women might end up quieting to go and care for their families. As seen earlier, their positions are also the least in the rank. Sexual abuse is illegal in the country, but surprisingly, it is very common at the workplace. Both male and female workers are supposed to view it as normal. Men who have superior positions tend to take advantage of the junior workers. Another contributing factor to this problem is the fact that women can be fired any time, and those who are lucky enough to retain their jobs, are willing to do so at any cost, regardless of the humiliation (Craig, 2000).
It is common to see portraits of naked women, from subways to the television. Pornography materials are generally easily accessible, and most men are commonly seen reading pornography publications even in public. Many bookstores have stock of pornography materials available for any person who wishes to purchase. If one is new in Japan, he or she gets surprised for a few days and then gets used for this is a common feature (Craig, 2000).
Manga and especially the ones for men are a clear reflection of the unfair treatment of women in Japanese culture. Most manga are basically categorized. They are either for the youth or the adults, and also either for males or females. Mostly girls manga tend to stress on human interactions more than those meant for boys. The materials presented in the comics for girls are usually soft and dreamier, while the ones for boys tend to be brasher and flashier. It is common to have manga with sexual themes and nudity for youths in schools. This is usually common in boys manga. Boys and mens manga are very different from those of girls and women (Bornoff, 1991).
The theme of males are supposed to be stronger that men is the most common characteristic of gender relations in these comics. The notion is that no matter how strong and autonomous females are shown to be, they are always looking for a male figure, on whom to depend on for security. Even in parts or series of manga where the woman is the leading character, there will always be a man to offer her support (Bornoff, 1991).
There is the aspect of unequal relationship between men and women, and boys and girls in manga. Women play the characters of cheerleaders and Damsels-in-distress. Many of the 1970s mange and a considerable amount of contemporary comics reveal the historical stereotypes. Women are shown to be feeble and shy, and meek and humble. Men on the other hand are shown to possess a lot of strength, and to be gruff and composed. Women tend to be stronger intellectually as the theme develops, while men tend to have consistent characteristics. Despite the fact that most of the time the character of the women tend to develop, they are never shown as being equal to men. Even in males comics the women are shown as needing the support of the males. They also act to support the male characters thus enhancing their strength, for example, in a 1970s amine like GoLion, or Gyborg (Schodt, 1983). In these kinds of comics, women are depicted as the ones who always get things wrong and messes up in the battle. Quite a number of contemporary manga have tended to follow this trend. The 1980s, City Hunter, also revealed inequality in the male and female character, Ryo and Kaori. Therefore even comics where the female character is capable, she is never on the same level with the men. In the boys manga, girls act from the backbench, cheering boys as they play. Girls always dream of sacrificing their own dreams in support of their favorite males. Some will even dream of getting married and staying at taking care of the family. The boys will on the other hand, dream of being successful in their games and spending more time on practice. The only fantasies that boys hold apart from winning their marches afro how they can get to sleep with their dream girls. Their thoughts are on sexual pleasures and very far from marriage and families (Bornoff, 1991).
In most of the manga men are always aiming at bringing the women down. The male is depicted as always working at helping the woman attain a more normal state. This is done by assisting the woman to get weaker and gentler. For example in Maison Ikkoku, there were expectations on Godai to be able to take care of Kyoto, so that she could terminate her job and become fully dependant on him. Another example is in the 3X3 Eyes, where Yakuma wants to assist Pai to get rid of all her powers so that she can be normal. He succeeds for with time, he is depicted as being more powerful than Pai (Bornoff, 1991).
It is a common place to view nudity in all categories of manga. This has especially become more serious in recent years. Even in children manga there are aspects of nudity, where one will see small boys staring at pictures of nude girls. People in Japan are usually very open when it comes to nudity and sex. As a result it is common to extract humor from it. It is also not all humor that makes women feel degraded (Schodt, 1983).
Even as early as the 1960s, manga was mostly for men. In the manga for men, women are given the weakest of the roles. For example, in the 1964 Cybong 009, there was only one women actor, who disappears from the action in between the act. Some manga for men have no female characters. For example Bakii the Grappler and the Sand land (Izawa, 1997). These two manga have no female characters as all. Women and girls began to be included in mens manga in the 1980s. This is the time they began to take a somewhat active part in manga. However, this does not mean that their role was in any way competing with that of men. Even where they were portrayed as powerful characters, they always had flaws that men never had. In some of the manga where women are involved, they may be strong characters and autonomous, but still will be used as objects of the emotional and sexual interests of the hero. This is for example in the Oh My Goddess by Fujishima (Patten, 2004).
There are other manga where the hero is surrounded by female characters to reveal his strength, for example in Negima by Ken Akamatsu. The hero is never successful in establishing relationship with women. He is always using them as objects. In others the male protagonist who is initially weak, grows to be strong and confident by mastering the art of living and dealing with a female sexually and emotionally. This reveals the aspect of use of women only for sexual pleasures for their supposed weakness (Brenner, 2007).
Counter arguments
There have been efforts to change the perception on gender roles in Japan. This is revealed in the attempts by women to have the society change the traditional notion of gender roles. Despite being a society full of gender stereotypes, the history of the country reveals a lot of strong women who occupied very important positions in the society. There were very powerful women who were goddesses and others who were empresses. In fact most of the traditional rulers in Japan were empresses (Craig, 2000).
In contrast to the main belief that is conventionally held on the roles of women, manga reveals some themes that reveal women as strong and solid characters. A very good example in support of this argument is a comic referred to as Youre Under Arrest by Fujishima. In this manga, the two main characters are women. Following this story carefully, one will realize that these two women are anything but frail and delicate, the way the society portrays women. These women are portrayed as being equal to men in their role as police officials. They are in a position of kicking and hitting suspects where the situation calls for it (Hearn, 2005).
Another manga that is a science fiction also reveals five strong women police members of the Attacked Mystified Police. This is in Silent Mbius by Kia Asamiya. These women are tough police officers who deal with unusual crimes associated with paranormal. As a result some of the members of the force have psychic powers. Women are shown to be more gifted in psychic powers which make them strong, such that they are feared even by men. Where women are revealed as helping the weaker characters in manga, it reveals that women can also be equally or even stronger than men. On such case is portrayed in Youre Under Arrest. This is in the relationship of one of the leading character, Miyuki with Nkajima, who is a fellow police officer (Brenner, 2007).
It can also be argued that manga has helped to shape the roles and identity of women in the society. As popular culture, manga has helped to mirror and motivate change in the community. This is so because of the changes in the themes in anime. This is however possible for the adults who are able to view the mange critically. The manga is also important in revealing the dynamics in the society. Regardless of the fact that manga reveals the roles of women as traditionally held, it is a fact that they also reveal the changes that have taken place in the society. It would be untrue to argue that the roles of women as portrayed in manga are static and remains as they were many years ago (Fredrick, 1986) By accessing a manga like Youre Under Arrest, women are motivated to be strong and overcome the stereotypes held by the society. Manga in Japan caters for both the needs of women and men in the society. There are those genres that corrupt the minds of the men such that they view women as sex objects. These ones are countered by the genres that are developed to enlighten the women and motivate them to take their place in the society, not as traditionally held, but as required by the enlightened society. The strong women depicted by the manga are a motivating factor to the modern Japanese women to overcome the mainstream beliefs in that country. Women have revealed the fact that it is possible for women to fight at the same level with men. All they require is for the society to give them the chance (Craig, 2000).
Conclusion
Manga is addictive, for when children are addicted to manga meant for entertainment, they are reluctant to leave it even when they are growing up. Children are the best medium to transmit culture. When they their minds are adapted to a particular social situation, they hold to it for a long time and transmit it as they grow. This is the reason why stereotyping that is advocated by manga is not likely end any time soon. Whatever children are brought up taking as the norm is what they hold as the norm in the society. Manga is a corruptive art form of entertainment that preaches stereotyping and the use of women as sexual objects. It is a reflection of the Japanese culture, which is likely to persist for many generations through the use of preservative arts like manga. Through enlightenment, the society is slowly adapting to the idea that women are not what they are made to believe they are. However, this kind of enlightenment is not likely to be adopted in Japan any soon due to their love of manga. It is a fact that there are manga that depict the strong character of females, but they can never thrive in a male-dominated society.
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