Dan Pink's Adventures in Manga Video: Manga in Japan
What business lessons can Americans learn from the wild world of Japanese comics? In part 1 of his provocative, entertaining and highly visual presentation, Japan Society Media Fellow and bestselling author Daniel Pink draws on his research in Japan as well as on his own efforts as a manga creator to take us inside the world of Japan’s dojinshi—amateur manga artists who remix and repurpose popular manga titles into new creations. Find out why these copyright-busting fans are actually helping the Japanese manga industry.
Possible Discussion Questions and Activities
1. How do you think this model of dojinshi creation both spurs and possibly hurts creativity?
2. Activity: Have students act as dojinshi to study Japan. Have them choose their favorite comic book character. Ask them to create a story placing that character in whatever period of Japanese history you are studying (or within the context of the piece of Japanese literature you are studying). Create an assessment rubric that will reward both creativity and accurately incorporating the material being studied.
3. Based on this discussion (and other reading you may do, such as this introductory essay by Japanese historian and manga expert Antonia Levi), summarize the similarities and differences between manga and American comics. What do you think might be the causes of these differences, particularlly as they relate to the differing places manga and comics hold in Japanese and American society, respectively?
Do you have other questions or activity ideas that work well with this video? If so, please share them in the discussion section below.
This event is part of the U.S.-Japan Innovators Network. For more information on the U.S. Japan Innovators Network, please visit the U.S.-Japan Innovators Network site.
