Japanese Notebooks

Japanese Notebooks:  A Journey to the Empire of Signs is a graphic memoir by Igort, an Italian comics creator, who has traveled to Japan twenty times, lived there for a time and worked in its manga industry for ten years. It's a testament to his life long love affair with Japan. Igort shows how he learned to live and work in Japan, found inspiration from the cultural activities he participated in, as well as how the comics industry operates there.

This is a beautifully illustrated book.  Most of the drawings have been done in color and show the author immersing himself in Japanese culture and life. When he arrives in Tokyo he must adjust to living in the tiny 150 square foot apartment that he was given to live in. He then has a three and a half hour job interview.  Later he realizes that in Japan the interviewee should be the first person to stand up, signaling the end of the interview. In the west it's the opposite.  The Japanese thought that he was trying to negotiate a higher salary by not standing up and ending the interview. In his free time Igort visited Buddhist temples, gardens, tea shops, a sumo wrestling training place, and book stores. He discussed with his Japanese co-workers the samurai code, films, literature and manga, all subjects that he illustrated in his book. Toward the end Igort draws a memorial to several manga masters who have passed away.

The author wrote so lovingly about Japan that it captivated me too.  He makes the reader want to jump on a plane and visit the country at length. If that's not possible, there is this armchair traveler book called Japanese Notebooks.

Highly recommended!