Chanpon

Oguri Saori has written a set of heartwarming best selling manga about her relationship with Tony László, a Tokyo based journalist and founder of Issho Kikaku (The Power of Diversity!), an NPO devoted to issues of multiculturalism quite similar to though more expansive than those we pursue here at chanpon.org.

As I was tucked into bed polishing off the last bits of ダーリンは外国人, I kept shooting sidelong glances at my own blue-eyed ダーリン, giggling at the funny everyday moments that I could not help but identify with.

One of my favorites is when Saori chases Tony around the house with a ruler, trying to measure the height of his nose. Or when she gently but persistently instructs him that the 大根おろし should be eaten in the same mouthful as the 焼き魚. But Tony just as stubbornly persists in eating it separately. The one that had me rolling on the floor laughing though was the scene where Saori is 意地悪く楽しくつついている Tony's 傷つきやすい nature by repeatedly telling him 悲しい話, like of the baby cuckoo evolving so that it can push competing eggs out of the nest. With the funniest of touches, she depicts a difference in perception and sensitivity that it both utterly personal as well as clearly culturally determined.

My lame paraphrasing here can't due justice to Oguri-san's ほのぼの illustrations combined with a lovingly するどい reflection on her life with her partner. Even though my darling is nothing like Tony, she has captured something about the funny quirks of romance across the Japan-US cultural divide that is as idiosyncratic as it is easy (for me) to identify with. She walks ths fine line between capturing the qualities of their unique relationship, and tracing the contours of resilient cultural difference. Although the manga's appeal is clearly grounded in the widespread romanticization of relationships between Japanese women and Euro-American white men, Oguri-san works more to break down the stereotypes than to reinforce them. As she writes in the prefact to her second book:

「国際結婚はロマンティックでアモーレな世界ばかりではない」。そんな事実を描いた第一戦「ダーリンは外国人」。続編であるこの「ダーリンは外国人２」も、「うっとり」とはほど遠いい「ええ？！」や「ちょっとちょっと」、あるいは「ふーん」ね出来事を紹介しております。しかし、この続編は特に「国際結婚だから」というよりも、「自分の目の前の人が独特な感じ」なので観察日記をつけている、といった方が近いかもしれません。

While always keeping it very personal she touches on topics such as differences in humor, misconceptions about manga, or the difficulties Japanese have in learning conversational English. So the manga is definitely not just for laughs. In its more serious moments, Oguri-san describes the descrimination she and Tony faced in finding housing in Tokyo, the problematic quirks of how foreigners are marginalized on 戸籍 and 住民票、and negative stereotpes of Japanese women. The manga is very even-handed in critiquing both Japanese and non-Japanese preconceptions and stereotypes.

So I wasn't surprised when I learned that László-san is an activist for multicultural issues and cultural communication. The books are interspersed with his commentary, and his unique viewpoint as a thoroughly chanpon American living in Tokyo is a large part of the manga's appeal. Though I haven't read the two most recent books,　英語ができない私をせめないで！and ダーリンの頭の中, my guess is that they handle issues about learning English with as much humor and panache as the first to books. I just wished I had discovered these gems sooner. Bravo!