Tsai was already teaching about Japan a decade ago, but students eager for a general education course with a name like “The Politics and Economy of Japan” were few and far between. Tsai was bemused—with Japan and Taiwan so closely linked, surely young people would be interested in the country, so why weren’t they enrolling?

Then one day during a trip to Japan, he looked across the train to see an older man engrossed in a manga. Intrigued, Tsai took note of the title—Like Shooting Stars in the Twilight—and headed for a comic rental store to take a look for himself. Shooting Stars features more senior protagonists, subverting the usual manga propensity for handsome young hunks and nubile young women. Instead, Shooting Stars tells stories of the love lives of middle aged and elderly folk, and the series has been well received by readers in that age bracket.

Tsai remarks that until then, he hadn’t read much manga, not imagining it could be a channel for discussion on all kinds of societal phenomena. Discovering Shooting Stars inspired him to start thinking about manga’s potential as a teaching material, one that could help general education students more easily understand Japanese society.

Comics as textbooks

Most Taiwanese consider manga little more than light reading, and reading them as a student is generally looked upon as slacking off. “The Japanese,” says Tsai, “don’t see any real difference between manga and other books—they’re all conduits for ideas and knowledge.” The difference in perception, Tsai says, comes mostly from Taiwanese not realizing that manga don’t have to just be fantastical tales about sports stars, fighters, or mages; while they have few readers in Taiwan, genres like “reality manga” and “professional manga” are also popular in Japan.

As the name would suggest, so-called reality manga tend to be about real-life issues, as exemplified in Tsai’s classes by Salaryman Kin­taro and Star Reformer. Within that genre, Tsai particularly recommends the Ko­saku ­Shima series. Starting with 1983’s Section Head Ko­saku ­Shima, it has followed the titular Ko­saku ­Shima as he has climbed the corporate ladder, becoming today’s Corporate President Ko­saku ­Shima. Along the way, it has become a record of the contemporary Japanese corporate environment, depicting schemes involving sex, power, and money. The series has been called the manga most representative of Japanese society, and former Japanese prime minister Taro Aso even gave copies of the manga as gifts to foreign guests.

Comics for all walks of life

“Professional manga,” meanwhile, explore the worlds of particular professions. Titles like Midnight Restaurant and the medical drama Say Hello to Black Jack not only take in-depth looks at their respective professions, but also reflect social issues in their stories. Professions as diverse as law, search and rescue, and sommeliery are also represented in manga.

One such manga that Tsai particularly recommends is Na­tsuko’s Sake. The protagonist, Na­tsuko, works with her brother to try and brew traditional sake, trying various methods and growing organic ingredients in an effort to push back against sake produced with chemically fertilized ingredients and manufactured on production lines. Along the way, the story highlights conflicts between man and the land, technology and tradition, and urban and rural areas.

“It’s just a short 12 issues, but it covers major topics like agricultural transformation and social problems. Even though it was published over 20 years ago, I believe it still deserves our attention and thought.” Not only does Na­tsuko’s Sake reflect Japan’s respect for professionalism, says Tsai, it also brings into relief the choices that face a Japan caught between tradition and modernity.

Such manga depict their settings and environments with tremendous detail, enabling students to get a glimpse of the darker corners of Japan’s cram schools, exam rooms, courts, schools, and society more broadly, and so providing them with a more complete picture of modern Japan.

More than just comics

The manga industry not only contributes greatly to Japan’s GDP, it is also considered part of the mechanism for the dissemination of knowledge, as the size of the market has facilitated the birth of comics covering a diverse range of topics.

“While Taiwanese comics actually came around quite early, the field still hasn’t developed to quite the same level,” says Tsai. Just looking at the amounts offered in prizes for comics we see that Japan offers more than ten times as much as Taiwan, with Korean comics catching up rapidly. With Taiwan currently striving to promote the cultural and creative industries, the question of how we can cultivate talent and create a strong comics industry is one that deserves serious attention.

In addition to reading manga, Tsai’s students are also required to give weekly reports on major topics in Japan’s news from the previous week, using what they’ve learned from the manga to delve into the issues behind the news. For example, the Japanese government has recently been pushing for new security laws that would enable the nation to dispatch its Self-Defense Forces abroad; “So everybody, from what you’ve read in manga, what is the next step after the cabinet passes a bill?” As soon as Tsai has finished the question, several students almost immediately respond: “It’s sent to the Diet for review.”

A rewarding vocation

General education courses aim to give students a broad, interdisciplinary knowledge base and skill set. Some college instructors find the courses dull, as students not majoring in the field concerned lack the familiarity with it to allow in-depth explorations. Students, meanwhile, are often more concerned with making sure they’ve met their quota of compulsory general education credits, preferring to choose courses seen as “easy ‘A’s.” Between these, general education has gradually moved away from its core intent.

Tsai, though, isn’t on that particular bandwagon. “Teaching general education is incredibly rewarding, because you get all kinds of different perspectives from students in a variety of majors, which can ­really spark creativity in the classroom.” Tsai believes that the reason so many students aren’t interested in general education courses isn’t that they have no interest in the subjects, but more that the instructors come across as bored. “The greatest pleasure I get from teaching is seeing 100-plus students sitting there completely rapt. Sometimes I feel almost like a rock star,” he laughs.

“The days when you could use one handout ­every year for decades are long gone,” he continues. “In the age of the Internet there are so many channels for information, so if college instructors don’t get out of the ivory tower and embrace the modern age, they’re going to make themselves obsolete.”

Another general education course that Tsai teaches is “Cinema and International Relations.” It has students unpick the complex world of modern international relations through the lens of films like Black Hawk Down and Zero Dark Thirty.

Through films and manga, ideas and events that can be difficult to really grasp from dry textbooks are transformed into something more readily comprehensible. And while we can’t completely replace textbooks with manga and film, why shouldn’t we add a little more creativity and fun to the classroom?

Dragon Zakura uses exaggerated storytelling to put a mirror to Japan’s education culture and emphasis on examinations. (courtesy of Taiwan Tonhan)

Tsai Zheng-jia uses manga to make general education a more enticing, grounded experience. Every semester hundreds of students register in hopes of getting a place in his courses.

Tsai Zheng-jia uses manga to make general education a more enticing, grounded experience. Every semester hundreds of students register in hopes of getting a place in his courses.

For Tsai’s courses, you won’t find all the textbooks in the library! Fortunately comic stores in the neighborhood of NCCU have taken to setting up special sections for course-related manga.

Natsuko’s Sake deals with Japan’s traditional sake brewing industry and agricultural sector, and is one of the manga used in his courses that Tsai Zheng-jia recommends most. (courtesy of Sharp Point Publishing)

A class presentation about coxmic book characters.... Is this student slacking off? No! It’s an actual assignment!

Like Shooting Stars in the Twilight explores love and life for elderly Japanese, and is the manga that first inspired Tsai Zheng-jia to think about using graphic novels in the classroom. (courtesy of Sharp Point Publishing)

A class presentation about comic book characters.... Is this student slacking off? No! It’s an actual assignment!

Among the many genres of manga are “professional manga,” a distinctively Japanese type of comic that depicts professional life in a particular field. Such manga are invaluable for their realistic depictions of the social setting and interpersonal relationships, things you won’t find in an ordinary textbook. (courtesy of Tong Li Publishing)

Among the many genres of manga are “professional manga,” a distinctively Japanese type of comic that depicts professional life in a particular field. Such manga are invaluable for their realistic depictions of the social setting and interpersonal relationships, things you won’t find in an ordinary textbook. (courtesy of Tong Li Publishing)

Japanese culture has had a profound impact on Taiwanese society, and many Taiwanese youth are curious about their island neighbor. Through manga, students can get an easy-to-understand introduction to Japanese culture.