Women’s Voices in Manga Japanese Cultural and Historical Perspectives

Women’s Voices in Manga investigates how manga reflect women's gender issues and social problems within the context of Japanese history, culture, and society. Manga illuminate how women have been treated stereotypically and confined to their gender roles. Fictional characters—surrogates for both creators and readers—have continuously challenged and subverted fixed cultural images, notions, and expressions of women.

The first section of the book features research articles on the depiction of women in manga. Contributions of chapters come from scholars in diverse fields, including manga studies, history, art education, literary studies, and gender studies. The second section presents the life stories of prominent women artists Watanabe Masako (b.1929), Mizuno Hideko (b.1939), and Satonaka Machiko (b.1948), capturing their voices and social messages through interviews. Finally, the third section introduces a translated manga, Abe: A Young Woman Emperor-in-Waiting, created by Satonaka Machiko, which features one of the six Japanese female Emperors in history, Koken Tenno (later Shotoku Tenno) of the 8th century.

Women’s Voices in Manga showcases women’s issues, portrayals, and lives. The book underscores manga’s cultural function to disseminate expressions of women’s issues across society, inviting readers to relate these issues to their own lives.

Part I. Women’s Portrayals and Voices in Manga.- 1. Maternal Monstrosities in Horror Manga: Umezu Kazuo's Snake Ladies and Scary Mommies - Jon Holt.- 2. Hidden Flowers – Depictions of Sexuality in Shojo and Redikomi Versions of The Tale of Genji  - Emerald L King.- 3. The Zany Aesthetic of Manga for Women—A Reading of Anno Moyoko’s Happy Mania - Luciana Sanga.- 4. “Don Your Armor!”: The Politics of Dress in Higashimura Akiko’s Princess Jellyfish (Kuragehime) - Keiko Miyajima.- 5. The Landlady and I (Oya-san to boku): The Tale of an Elderly Woman’s Life - Barbara Hartley.- 6. The Malaise of the Modern Family: Examining Depictions of Child Abuse in Manga - Hiromi Tsuchiya Dollase.- 7. Comics at the Intersection of Womanhood and Disability: Essay Manga, Affect, and Community - Shige (CJ) Suzuki.- 8. Manga’s 2.5 D Women: Professional Cosplayers in Men’s Manga Magazines - Mia Lewis.- 9. Rethinking Gender and Genre in Contemporary Women’s Manga - Rebecca Suter.- PART II. Women’s Lives.- 10. The Legacy of the Artists of Shojo Manga’s Early Phase: Analysis of the “Shojo Manga Roundtable” - Nozomi Masuda, Translated by Joshua Rogers.- 11. Reflections on the Touring Exhibition “World of Shojo Manga” (2005-2023) - Masami Toku.- 12. Interviews with Three Legendary Manga-ka - Interviewed and edited by Masami Toku and Hiromi Tsuchiya Dollase.- Part 1: The Path of Manga Artist Watanabe Masako—Manga is Entertainment! It Must be Interesting?Watanabe Masako, Translated by Jessica Hiroshima Misiorek.- Part 2: An Interview with Mizuno Hideko?I am not a Shojo Manga Artist. I don’t Want a Label—Mizuno Hideko, Translated by Emerald L King.- Part 3: An Interview with Machiko Satonaka?Draw Believing You’re Helping Someone, Somewhere in the World?Satonaka Machiko, Translated by Rachael Charlow Lenz.- PART III. Reinterpreted History.- 13. Abe: A Young Woman Emperor-in-Waiting by Satonaka Machiko.- Part 1: Translator’s Notes?Barbara Hartley.- Part 2: Abe: A Young Woman Emperor-in-Waiting (from Memoires of Woman Emperor)?Satonaka Machiko, Translated by Barbara Hartley.

Hiromi Tsuchiya Dollase is an associate professor of Japanese language and literature at Vassar College, USA. Her areas of research include Japanese women’s literature, girls’ magazine culture, and manga. She is the author of Age of Shojo: Emergence, Evolution and Power of Girls’ Magazine Fiction in Japan (2019). She has co-edited Manga!: Visual Pop-Culture in ARTS Education (2020) with Masami Toku.

Masami Toku is a professor of art education at California State University, Chico, USA. Her research interest is the cross-cultural study of children’s artistic development and how visual pop-culture influences children’s visual literacy. One of her major projects was the international touring exhibition of Girls’ Power! Shojo Manga! (2005-2023). She has published a large number of articles, book reviews, book chapters, exhibition catalogs, and books.