SUSHI FOR BREAKFAST AT TSUKIJI MARKET
Day 2 of our Mind Over Manga tour found a few of us waking early to trek to Japan's, possibly the world's largest and busiest wholesale seafood market, Tsukiji Market. Located in central Tokyo within walking distance of the ritzy Ginza district, Tsukiji Market is where fresh, frozen and dried seafood of all kinds are shipped in from points near and far to be bought, sold and later consumed by Japanese diners.

Why the 5:00 am wake-up call? Because the market opens at 3:00 am and is in full swing by 6:00 am, with various stalls buzzing with fishmongers, chefs, seafood brokers, delivery men, auctioneers and bidders. The main auction begins at 5:30 am and ends at around 7:00 am, when those giant frozen tuna are all purchased and shipped off to restaurants, supermarkets, brokers and processors. By 11 am, most of the market is closed for the day.

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Things have been a little quiet on my blog for the past week or so -- mostly because I was off having way too much fun in the manga motherland, Japan!

If you recall, I was last in Japan for the Pop Japan Travel's Mind Over Manga tour in August 2008. This time, I went back for more, but was accompanied by a pack of talented (and fun) manga / comics artists from the U.S., Canada and Australia.

13 of us pooled our creative forces together to create Journeys, a 100-page original doujinshi / comics anthology to sell at Comitia 90, the quarterly show for independent artists / original manga, illustration, games and music. Comitia is held at Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center in Odaiba (home of the much bigger / more fan art-oriented Comic Market a.k.a. Comiket.) I'll post more about Comitia soon, as I work on my day-by-day reports about my trip.

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This week, Del Rey Manga is releasing the second volume of Nina Matsumoto's supernatural comedy-adventure series Yokaiden. To celebrate, the folks at Suvudu.com is holding a live webchat with Matsumoto on Tuesday, November 24, from 3:00 pm Eastern Time / 12:00 noon Pacific Time. Just go to http://suvudu.com/author-chat/nina-matsumoto/ tomorrow to join in the fun, ask your questions and see her discuss what's in store in Yokaiden Volume 2, and perhaps talk about her recent Eisner Awards win at San Diego Comic-Con 2009.

As the story opens in Yokaiden Volume 2, ever-cheerful Hamachi has ventured deep into the realm of the yokai in search of the spiteful, peg-legged kappa who has stolen his (admittedly crabby and unloveable) grandmother's soul. But Hamachi needs help to fulfill his mission, and enlists the aid of Ninetails, the fox god. The wily fox agrees to help Hamachi find the kappa, but wants a favor in return: Hamachi must find and retrieve three treasures for her. It all sounds simple enough, but nothing is what it seems when you're dealing with a kitsune.

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They say you can't judge a book by its cover. Deka Kyoshi, a new shonen manga series by Tamio Baba from CMX Manga provides a good example of this truism. With its cryptic title and innocuous cover art, Deka Kyoshi is a series that's actually a lot more interesting than its cover would suggest.

When the CMX Manga folks first announced Deka Kyoshi, I have to admit I wasn't that intrigued by the concept nor the art -- I mean, come on, does anyone really need another "Kindergarten Cop" type story? But I took a read and was surprised at the heavy subjects covered in this series that's labeled for older teens, but is really meant for tweens and younger teens. Wrist cutting? Shoplifting? Bullying? Yep, we aren't in kiddie comics land anymore...

Check out my review of Deka Kyoshi Volume 1 and see the three reasons why you might not pick it up, and the reasons why it's worth a look anyway.

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Attention aspiring artists of all ages, especially those in the San Francisco Bay Area. The promoters of the Holiday Anime Faire in Fremont is putting out an open call for entries for their manga art and coloring contest to promote their upcoming art and family fun festival on December 5, 2009.

For artists from grades K through 6, there's a coloring contest. For artists age 13 and up, there's a postcard art contest. For the postcard contest, artists are asked to create an original 4" x 6" drawing, either color or black and white featuring the Holiday Anime Faire mascots. Prizes donated by Sakura of America, VIZ Media, Dark Horse and P.M.B.Q. Studios will be awarded in each age group and for several categories.

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This week, shojo manga staked its claim on the New York Times Graphic Books list with perennial favorite Vampire Knight claiming the top spot, followed by the debuts of new volumes of Black Bird and Ouran High School Host Club, all from VIZ Media's Shojo Beat imprint.

Also new to the chart this week are the latest volumes of two supernatural-themed Shonen Jump Advanced titles, D.Gray-Man and Rosario + Vampire. Meanwhile, last week's top sellers Naruto, Negima, Soul Eater, Tsubasa and Maximum Ride hang on to their spots in the top 10.

Here's the rest of the New York Times Manga Bestseller list for the week ending November 7, 2009:

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Usually when people think of manga, they think about stories about epic sci-fi, sweet shojo manga romances or adrenaline-charged action. But as there's more to Japan than geisha, samurai and sushi, there are also several manga artists who take a more thoughtful, sensual and personal approach to their storytelling. One such artist is Susumu Katsumata, the creator of Red Snow , a new collection of gekiga short stories published by Drawn and Quarterly.

Katsumata-sensei, like Yoshihiro Tatsumi, is known for being part of the gekiga, or "dramatic pictures" movement that was known for depicting stories that are both more gritty, personal and realistic than fantasy-driven manga, and also for its artistic innovation. But unlike Tatsumi-sensei's gritty, urban tales (A Drifting Life , Abandon the Old in Tokyo ), Katsumata's Red Snow is set in rural Japan, where life was somewhat simpler, but also had its share of hardships and drama.

Gardena, California-based Digital Manga Publishing recently announced that they are seeking submissions of original manga, graphic novels, short stories and prose novels in all genres (e.g. not just boys love) from "aspiring and professional creators" for eManga.com, their online manga rental website.

DMP graphic designer and marketing maven Michelle Mauk showcased this recent addition to the eManga line-up at Yaoi-Con 2009 by showing two titles: Games With Me by Tina Anderson, Lynsley Brito and Yaoi Hentai, an anthology series of erotic boys love short stories from Yaoi Press.

"We're looking for original content only," said Mauk. "Short doujinshi and novels are also fine. Fan or slash stories won't work, and neither will pin-ups. It's hard to convince people to rent pinups -- people want to read."

A few days ago on Twitter, @gottsuiiyan, (a.k.a. Ian, the translator / blogger of The Eastern Edge fame) made mention of an exhibit of artwork by manga artist Takehiko Inoue that would be displayed at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo this month through March 2010.

Now, since I'm headed to Tokyo later this week, this news was very intriguing! Would this be an retrospective of artwork by the creator of Real, Slam Dunk and Vagabond? Would it be an exhibit of his color and black and white illustrations from Vagabond, as seen in the Sumi and Water artbooks? Or would it be new artwork created just for the museum?

The English version of the MOT website unfortunately doesn't have information about the Inoue artwork -- however, the Japanese version of their site does. And, thanks to yet another blogger/DJ, I got pointed to this page, which is a rough translation of a post and photos posted on Fukuhen, another Japanese blog, which got its info from Brutus magazine. In any case, this online journey led me to some photos and more details about Inoue-sensei's new mural at MOT, which I hope to see in person next week.

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While mid-month tends to be slow for new manga, there's lots of intriguing series and one-shots making their debut this week from CMX Manga, Drawn and Quarterly, TokyoPop and VIZ Media.

Topping this week's list of new releases is the VIZ Big edition of Inu Yasha, which collects the first three volumes of Rumiko Takahashi's long-running adventure series in a larger format. With 56 volumes in the regular run of Inu-Yasha, we can look forward to at least 18 more VIZ Big volumes to come.

Also new and well-worth picking up is Red Snow, a new gekiga gem by Susumu Katsumata from Drawn and Quarterly. Like their prior releases of manga by Yoshihiro Tatsusmi, D and Q pulled out the stops to give this award-winning collection of short stories of rural Japan the deluxe, hardcover treatment.

If hard-boiled action is more to your taste, VIZ Signature has Jormungand, which is chock-full of gun-slinging and international intrigue, ala Black Lagoon.

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