New York Times Mention of Manga Causes Controversy

In a recent article focused on Hayao Miyazaki, written by James Brooke and published by the New York Times newspaper, appeared the statement, “Comic books account for 60% of printed publications in Japan, a reflection of low literacy rates due to the difficulty of learning Japanese characters.” The Associated Press newswire immediately responded to this seeming attack on Japanese culture by pointing out that according to US State Department information, Japan has a 99% literacy rate, compared to America’s 97%. When contacted for clarification, Brooke explained, “What we are talking about here and a lot of older Japanese have told me this, reading and writing kanji skills are deteriorating [in contemporary Japan]. And this is what I meant by low literacy… In other words, a lot of Japanese people read comic books because they don’t want to sit on the subway with a long full text kanji book.”

Article courtesy of Scott Green