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Just So Happens, written and illustrated by Fumio Obata, is the story of Yumiko, a London-based designer who returns to Japan upon her father’s death.

What I liked:

• Obata’s art is just fascinating to view. His style, specifically his renderings of characters, objects, and backgrounds, and his use of bold, solid color, feels very “nihonjin with a dash of something,” which may reflect his experiences living outside Japan. Additionally, because so much of the story, including the drawings themselves, seems to be firmly anchored within Yumiko’s perspective (meaning, it felt as if we were intended to be looking through her eyes), the sense of Japanese-but-also-a-bit-off that I experienced while reading the book felt very intentional, as if the entire work was created to embody the experience of being nihonjin-outside-Japan-returning-to-Japan. Although my background is different from Yumiko’s, the push-and-pull emotions of being Japanese outside Japan versus in Japan felt incredibly familiar.
• Another thought-provoking quality I appreciate about Obata’s work is the sketchiness, or deceptive simplicity, of his images. I especially noticed this in his depictions of Japanese settings, where his spare lines and broadly brushed colors create a feeling of place rather than a photographic image. Based on my own experiences in Japan, I recognized many of these places and could call up sensory memories to “fill in the blanks” so to speak, but this experience made me wonder if Obata’s depictions of Japan are meant to mirror Yumiko’s own lifelong familiarity with her birthplace and/or Obata’s own familiarity with his first home. It could also merely be a factor of artistic choice – perhaps Obata renders all of his settings in this style, regardless of personal connection. I wonder about how Obata’s depictions of Japan, and other nihonjin depictions of Japan in the graphic novel medium (in this case, meaning graphic novels as distinct from manga) compare to nikkei depictions of Japan in the same medium. Anyone who has been a tourist or has hosted a tourist probably knows this feeling – as a visitor, one tends to fixate on details which are unseen or unimportant to longtime residents. Would a comparative analysis of graphic novels show more “tourist” details in nikkei depictions of Japan versus nihonjin depictions of Japan? Subject matter would also need to be considered as a factor, of course, since any nikkei creator focusing on being a tourist in Japan would likely produce images heavily skewing toward these “tourist” details. Additionally, personal artistic choice and style, as well as target audience, would also need to be considered. The same question could also be applied to literature. As a writer, I often consider how much detail to include, with my primary considerations being, what is best for the story AND what is best for my target (nikkei) audience.

What I learned:

• Yumiko’s commentary on Noh was fascinating, especially her musings on the relationship between the structured artistry of Noh and the self. I’ve never seen Noh performed and it’s not currently a particular area of interest for me, but my inner art historian is clamoring to research some articles or books by Japanese (nihonjin or nikkei) scholars examining the role of self in Noh. On an academic side note, it would also be interesting to examine varying definitions of “self” as analyzed by nihonjin versus nikkei scholars, and to consider how these definitions shape each scholar’s work on Noh. I’m here for all those complex intersections of academia and diaspora identities!

Questions I had:

• What inspired Obata to create the character of Yumiko? This may be my own bias showing, but I’m often wary of Japanese – specifically nihonjin – men when it comes to gendered media portrayals. To be clear, I had no issues with the way Obata portrays Yumiko in the story, and the depiction of how constrained she felt her career to be in Japan felt consistent with my own observations. Nonetheless, I’m curious to know how nihonjin women, especially those whose life trajectory mirrors Yumiko’s, reacted to her character.

Follow-up:

• From what I can find, Obata’s two other graphic novels both appear to be written by some white dude living in Japan, with Obata illustrating. I sincerely wish western publishing would take a hard look at the racism inherent in this problematic pattern of Japanese writers and artists co-creating Japan-related content with white people, along with the overwhelming whiteness of Japanese-to-English translators. Let’s not set a precedent that Japanese creators “need” a white co-creator in order to get published in mainstream channels. I also wish Japanese (specifically nihonjin) publishers would take a hard look at the extent to which whiteness is privileged in Japan and consider what this implies about colorism and racial preferences in Japanese culture.