Abstract
This short chapter provides an overview of the book’s chapters, purpose and target audience and the basics of reading manga. It defines what type of autobiographical comics the term tōjisha manga refers to and explains why the word tōjisha is chosen for this subgenre of graphic memoirs in Japan. While introducing the key concepts such as tōjisha undō, tōjisha kenkyū, and essay manga, the chapter also clarifies the author’s choice of mental health-related language. Furthermore, it explains what manga titles are selected and which mental and neurological conditions are discussed in the book.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
In Japan, the government data on disability are presented in three categories: “people with physical disabilities,” “people with intellectual disabilities,” and “people with mental disabilities.” The Cabinet Office has been publishing a disability whitepaper (shōgaisha hakusho) annually since 1994.
- 3.
- 4.
It is important to clarify that although this book limits itself to examining graphic memoirs in the category of mental disability, manga titles by tōjisha with physical disabilities do exist albeit their number is quite small. Examples are works by Matsutani Takuya, a deaf manga artist; Banii Urasawa, a visually impaired manga artist; and Sashida Hiroyuki, a manga artist who was first hospitalized for a cerebral tumor and then became incapacitated from a hit and run four years later. All three have published their comic works based on their tōjisha experiences. However, this group of manga is far more limited compared to the growing number of manga on mental disability.
- 5.
Although manga appears to be read in Japanese format, that characterization is not entirely accurate. More traditional writings such as novels and newspapers are read from top to bottom and right to left; however, scientific and educational documents, including academic journal articles and textbooks, are typically read from left to right just like English sentences.
- 6.
ICD-11, which officially came into effect in January 2022 (https://icd.who.int/en/), was not yet cited in academic papers and other scientific references during most of my manuscript writing. Thus, I drew information more from DSM-5, especially in the chapters about depression. Furthermore, it was only recently that the United States began evaluating the new edition for adaptation.
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Okuyama, Y. (2022). Introduction. In: Tōjisha Manga. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-00840-5_1
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