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'Hate Korea' Manga A Bestseller In Japan Date: 9/29/2005 |
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There was a manga published this past summer in Japan that was so controversial that the author simply couldn't find someone to print it at first, newspapers refused to promote or advertsie it and finding coverage in the media was even difficult. That is, until it started flying off shelves. "Kenkanryu" (Hating Things South Korean) is the creation of Sharin Yamano, who insists the "comfort women" kept in South Korea by imperial Japanese occupational forces during WWII was an entirely fabricated issue. He says he has done his own research and made the manga to dispell the above and other "lies spreading in The Republic Of Korea". All this comes in the middle of the recent South Korea Style Boom in Japan, Yamano mentions "South Korea Style Boom was produced recently due to mass communication initiation by Japan, it became popular, and there were a lot of people who had the sense of incompatibility on the other hand, too". The comic tells the story of a Japanese high school student interested in Japan-Korea relations around the time of the joint world cup event in 2002. Several publishers passed up the book, calling the contents "historically incorrect", "right wing" etc.. Shinyusha finally decided to carry it and upoin it's debut on July 26 it immediately topped Amazon Japan sales charts. As of August 10th, with a 30,000 1st print run selling out immediately the publisher ordered a second printing of 70,000 copies. |
| Source: Anime News Service |
