Virtual Ethnography 101: Japanese Comics in the Philippines

I would always ask my college and graduate students in Anthropology, aside from learning anthropological concepts and theories inside the classroom, to explore places, experience cultural or social happenings, and write ethnographic accounts using the participation-observation method.

I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.

Basically, virtual ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.

By Sonoko Hayashi

About Japanese comics

Over 5 billion books and magazines were published in 1984 in Japan,making it one of the world’s most -print-saturated nations.27％ of that―about 1.38 billion books were comic books in magazine and book form.As some enterprising reporters have discovered,Japan now uses more paper for its comics than it does for its toilet paper.

The most common form of Japanese comic today is the story-comic.It is first serialized in a comic magazine and then compiled into books,and in its entirety may be thousands of pages long.

The comic magazines-where most Japanese comics first appear-are targeted separately at boys,girls,men and women,but all are today characterized by an in-creasing crossover of readership.They bear little resemblance to American comics.

The most widely read comic magazine in Japan is what are loosely known as shonen manga and shojo manga.They have squared,glued lacks,and are as thick as a phone book.The average boy’s comic magazine,at less than dollar,is quite a bargain:it has 350 pages and contains as many as 15 serialized and concluding stories-only 10 to 20 pages are devoted to ads or text.

Japanese comics sold in Philippine book store

I tried to check on what Japanese comics are sold in Philippine book store.

In the case of BESTSELLERS in SM NORTH EDSA

There are 11 kinds of Japanese comic in BESTSELLERS:”Doraemon” Fujiko.F.Fujio Junior comics center,”Mixim 11” Nobuyuki Anzai ChuangYi,”Twinkle stars”Natsuki Takaya ChuangYi,”Bloody Monday” Masayuki Taguchi ChuangYi,”Tsubasa” Clamp delrey Kodansha,”Afterschool Charisma” Kumiko Suekane ChuangYi,”Metal fight beyblade explosive guidebook” ChuangYi,”Metal fight beyblade” Takafumi Adachi ChuangYi,”Pokemon adventures” Hidenori Kusaka ChuangYi,”Pokemon diamond and pearl adventure” Shigekatsu Ihara ChuangYi.These comics are sold in a children book area,which is in a corner of the store.They are displayed in disorder.There are not every volume of each comics,though they are series.

There are only 2 kinds of Japanese comics:”Bakugan battle brownies” Alligator books limited.,”Metal Fight Beyblade” Takafumi Adachi ChuangYi.These are also sold in a children book area.

About line-ups of Japanese comics in these two stores

There are two things which made me surprised through observation on two stores.
First,there were only a small Japanese comics in both stores.I guessed that there were much more Japanese comics in a Philippine book store because I often heard that Japanese comics were popular in the Philippines.Therefore I felt that really Japanese comics are not popular in the Philippines after observation on two stores.

Second,Japanese comics were displayed in a children book area.In Japan,comics are not displayed in a children book area.Almost all Japanese book stores set up an area for only comics,and then display comics there.It is because not only chldren but also adults often buy comics.I wonder if only children read comics in the Philippines.


Reference:
Frederik L.Schodt Manga!Manga!The World of Japanese Comics Kodansha International.