Wai Wai looks at the relationship between Japanese politicians and manga. What, you didn’t think there was one? Apparently the hot rumor over there is that Foreign Minister Taro Aso learned how to be a diplomat from Golgo 13, which is why he’s doing so badly. After teasing us with this tidbit, Wai Wai assures us that it is “highly unlikely.”
But there’s more.
“Hyoden no Torakutaa (The Hyoden Tractor, but the name can also be read to mean the tractor that collects votes) tells the story of Gorin Kasai, a Diet member’s secretary. Gorin’s not the type that can be hated and it tells stories of what he does to get his boss votes,” political commentator Harumi Arima tells Spa! “It gets into things like what secretaries have to do to snare block votes, how they keep their rivals from getting them and uses stories to explain difficult topics, like the time Gorin is trying to get the support of a women’s organization and goes on a ribald hot spring trip with them.”
Gee, I wonder what CMX would do with that manga? Unsurprisingly, politicians also confect highly self-complimentary bio-manga that portray them as down-to-earth folks next door. Socialist Party member emphasized her proletarianness in her autibio-manga:
“It shows her being stopped at the Diet entrance because she’s carrying a rucksack (instead of a briefcase), and chowing down on a ‘lunchtime special’ in a cafeteria while she proudly boasts, ‘I’m one of the little people’s politicians. I know what the people feel like,'” Arima says.
And because the opposite is generally true (how much did that gallon of milk cost, President Bush?), politicians read manga to find out what makes “ordinary people” tick. Titles like “Jomu Kosaku Shima (Kosaku Shima – Managing Director)” provide insight into the travails of the salaryman as well as, apparently, a bracing dose of reality.
“Take the way he deals with Japanese companies going to China to do business and how often they end up getting done over. That’s what really happens. Look at the magazines and they only ever report about companies making a bundle in China. They’re the lucky ones. As far as I’m concerned, Hirogane really tells it like it is.”
Also, apparently there is a grittily realistic manga about banking and brokerage. I think I’ll wait for the anime on that one.
