Japanese Cartoons, August 28th 2010, P71 日本の漫画 N1P57
゛The Stonehedge megaliths have been stolen!?゛ So exclaims Professor Munakata at the outset of a rollicking adventure set at the British Museum, in the form of a manga, or Japanese cartoon. Over the past five months, readers of Big Comic, a Japanese fortnightly magazine have followed the exploits of the fictitious ethnographer as he gets embroiled in a bizzare plot to force the repatriation of the museum's prized objects.
The strip, called ゛The Case Records of Professor Munakata゛, was introduced 15 years ago by Yukinobu Hoshino, one of Japan's most notable manga artists. Portly, bald and impecably dressed with cap, cape and cane, the professor is Japan's anti-Indiana Jones. He does not invite danger but bumbles into it. The strip does not follow any set formula but takes on serious issues.
In previous escapades the professor barely survived after uncovering an ancient burial ground in Japan's hinterland. He also risked his life leading archaeological survey of an island between Japan and Korea that both countries claim. The current saga, which reached its tumultous conclusion on August 25th, marks the first time that the brave hero (and his 56-year-old creator too) has paid a visit to the west.
In Japan manga is a mainstream medium, with sales of magazines and books amounting to around $5 billion a year. Though many are juvenile, violent or pornographic, others are intricate narratives skillfully illustrated and meant to educate as much as to entertain. They are increasingly popular abroad and starting to make their way into museum exhibitions - though in Japan itself they are given short shrift as an art form.
In the current adventure Professor Munakata is the first to realise that the stolen megalith are pawns for the return of the British Museum's controversial treasures, such as the Elgin marbles which Greece has been demanding. He uncovers a French plot to infiltrate the museum and snatch the Rosetta Stone (the ancient artefact that provides the key to Egyptian hieroglyphs) in order to return it not to Egypt but to France, which first discovered and translated it.
