After braving fogs, dealing with a queen bee, and hopeful that I have the energy to even move after a hectic work weekend, I was fortunate to have some time to actually attend the Japan Foundation’s Manga Realities Exhibit in the Ayala Musuem. The opening night last August 15 was such a wonderful experience that I honestly didn’t want to leave and just wanted to stay in that exhibit forever.
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Many thanks to the people who responded to Otaku Champloo’s Moyashimon giveaway and honestly all of you have lovely stories on how you came to learn about Japanese food through manga!
In the end it was hard to choose but I suppose, even if his entry was old, the passion and the effort he placed in those entries moved me to the point that I believe he embodied Itsuki-sensei’s culinary curiosity.
Hence, Derik, congratulations!
You will receive a copy of a volume 2 of Moyashimon from me! I’ll be contacting you soon for your contact details!
Since it’s my fifth anniversary month, stay tuned for another manga giveaway! This time, it pays to think “negative.”
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This research began with an observation after some conversations with friends in a bookstore. Many of us admitted that we read scanlated material more than we would read licensed materials. And while we had strong opinions about scanlations, I wondered if this was common opinion among fans. Hence, after doing some groundwork and some research about people and places on the net and all over the world, I thought it’s about time that I open the same conversations I had with my friends on how much of Japanese culture do they actually learn just from reading scanlations to other people.
I hope you can spare a few minutes of your time to answer my questionnare below. This survey will be closed by the 15th of September. Kindly spread this around to your friends as well who you think might be able to have an opinion or two about the topic as well. I need as much respondents as I can.
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I love eating things I know. I love eating things I don’t know.
Some call it for science, but for me, it’s closer to epicurean curiosity. There’s a lot of things we stuff in our mouths and we hardly even question how these things are made or where they came from. Somehow, we have reduced ourselves to eating whatever tastes great and somehow that makes the eating experience half as fun as it should.
Moyashimon is a manga I grew to love not only because of the cute bacterias (that seems to be a great hit among most fans) but because the series unravels the mystery of the food we eat, particularly strange fermented food that we’d rather not touch with a ten-foot pole.
The leader of this ragtag crew is none other than Itsuki-sensei, a culinary explorer, the kind that would possibly dive in underground caves just to taste what bats eat at night. Well, not really. But seeing him glug down a kiviak’s blood on the first chapter only shows his enthusiasm for anything fermented. The man is a connoisseur when it comes to his food and whether he sees the bacteria or not, he will definitely have a taste for food.
And Itsuki-sensei’s love for food is nothing but admirable. I’ve seen him lead the boys down crazy roads of wine making and cheese making just to teach them the intricate machinery of balancing bacteria and food. Odd, isn’t it? Who knew that we need the very germs that we hate to make food taste a lot better.
And reading through the pages of Moyashimon has left me wondering if those food really tasted great. What was the difference between a Bulgarian yogurt from a Japanese yogurt? Just how can the natto bacteria really change a soybean?
The countless of products featured in Moyashimon eventually led me to a strange trip towards our local Japanese Grocer. I found myself standing in front of rows of natto and tried to sum up the courage to try this culinary curiosity. Strange things entered my head, one of which was hearing a soft whisper from Itsuki-sensei, egging me to give it a try. It didn’t help that prior to that day, I had been watching Iron Chef and saw this epic natto battle. Just… what exactly does this bean have for the Japanese folks to consume it so much. And after ten other people picked up a pack of natto before me, I eventually got the courage to have some natto. I eventually chose the packet that had a happy family drawn on it. I thought, if they looked happy, then I’d probably be happy too.
What came after was a total surprise. Not only did the natto not kill me but I also ended up loving natto.
I’m quite sure I’m not alone when it comes to trying out some food because of manga. Whether it’s strawberry shortcake or even pizza hut, I’m confident in saying that there’s a number of you who tried out something because of a subtle product placement in manga.
I’d like to hear your story and I’d love to hear what manga encouraged you to try something new to eat! It doesn’t have to be as crazy as what I did but it’s definitely a taste that you definitely owe to a manga~!
As an incentive, I’m giving away Volume 2 of Moyashimon for one of our epicurean readers! It’s one of my favorite food/agriculture manga and I’m quite sure you’ll find the epic fermentation journey of Itsuki-sensei interesting!
This giveaway open to all of my readers from Manila, to Japan, to Poland, and even in the US. Just leave a comment about your culinary manga journey and you might have a chance of winning Moyashimon! And yes, it’s theEnglish version.
Winners will be selected at 6 a.m., August 12, 2011, Hong Kong Standard Time. That’d be 6:00 p.m. EST for those who live in New York, noon for those who live in London, and 5 a.m. for those in Japan.
Note: The Moyashimon bento above is from Anna the Red! She makes fantastic character bentou. You guys should check out her ghibli bento too!
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I have been more excited about this than the Kingdom of Characters display (I had tons of things to complain about that one!) and more so, when I saw this in the Japan Foundation Magazine, back then, they only hide five series on display.
And now they have more!
The Japan Foundation will be holding an exhibit on the art of Japanese comics called “Manga Realities: The Art of Japanese Comics Today.” I am particularly excited about this exhibit as it contains some of my favorite mangaka and more. In Japan Foundation’s July Newsletter, the curator of this exhibit, Takahashi Mizuki of the
Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito, noted that the exhibit intends to “recreate, in installation, sound and video, the same feeling of entering a “manga world” that you get when you read in manga…. Manga is experienced in private but this style of exhibition makes it possible to share the experience of manga with family and friends.”
I’m quite excited to see this exhibit and I hope manga fans will enjoy this as well!
Manga Realities Exhibit
Manga Realities: The Art of Japanese Comics Today
Ayala Museum, August 16-October 2
The Japan Foundation and the Ayala Museum in cooperation with the Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito in Japan, will bring to Manila the traveling exhibition, “Manga Realities: Exploring the Art of Japanese Comics Today”.
It is widely known that Japanese manga and anime are attracting global attention today as the leading media of Japanese visual culture. Starting from manga comics by Osamu Tezuka, the master cartoonist of postwar Japan, this country’s manga has established a distinctive style that is different from American comics or French bande dessinée. Once depreciated as children’s amusement or a subculture, the public perception of these media has been changed considerably in recent years. Japanese manga and anime are now regarded as the main culture as the soft power that represents Japan today.
The exhibition which will be on view from August 16 (Tuesday) to October 2 (Sunday) at the Ground Floor Gallery and at the Glass Lane and Luna and Amorsolo Rooms at the Third Floor of the Ayala Museum will showcase nine manga artists and their works including Ninomiya Tomoko (Nodame Cantabile); Harold Sakuishi (BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad); Asano Inio (Solanin); Anno Moyoco (Sugar Sugar Rune ); Igarashi Daisuke (Children of the Sea); Kuramochi Fusako (Five Minutes from the Station); Kyo Machiko (Sennen-Gaho); Matsumoto Taiyo (No. 5); and Wakaki Tamiki (The World God Only Knows). During the exhibition run, other activities including lectures and workshops will be conducted.
From its first exhibit in Art Tower Mito, Japan, the exhibition has traveled to Artsonje Center in Seoul, South Korea and to the Vietnam Fine Art Museum in Hanoi, Vietnam where it has received considerable acclaim.
Manga Realities: Exploring the Art of Japanese Manga Today is presented by Ayala Foundation and the Japan Foundation; additional support is provided by Lyric Piano and Organ, Acer and Via Mare.
For inquiries, please contact the Japan Foundation, Manila at telephone numbers 811.6155 to 58 or visit www.jfmo.org.ph.
Ayala Museum is located at Makati Avenue corner de la Rosa St. Greenbelt Park, Makati City. The museum is open from Tuesday to Friday (9:00 am to 6:00 pm) and Saturday to Sunday (10:00 am to 7:00 pm). For more information, please call Ayala Museum at telephone numbers 757.7117 to 21 or visit www.ayalamuseum.org.
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