Gao Yan Draws Young Adulthood in Okinawa Pref. and Taiwan; Taiwan Manga Artist Depicts ‘Gap' Between People, Politics
A scene from 'Sukima'
Taiwan manga artist Gao Yan's latest work 'Sukima,' published by Kadokawa Corp., is based on the author's own experiences. The story is told from the viewpoint of a Taiwan student living in Okinawa Prefecture and touches on the histories and other aspects of those two locations.
'I draw manga about Taiwan as a Taiwanese,' Gao, 28, said. 'I hope to let readers know about Okinawa and Taiwan.'
Yang Yang, the protagonist of the story, is a university student who lives in Taipei. She has a crush on a man, but her feelings go unrequited. On top of that, she loses her grandmother, who was very dear to her. As if to shake off the harsh reality that she faces, she decides to take part in an exchange student program in Okinawa Prefecture. Once she arrives, she finds beautiful beaches and makes new friends from Okinawa and China. She begins to take the first steps of her new life.
The story is based on Gao's experience of studying in Okinawa Prefecture for about a year in 2018. At the time, she thought long and hard about how to introduce Taiwan in a language still unfamiliar to her.
'I felt there was a certain distance between us,' she said. 'I was frustrated that I couldn't fluently say what I wanted to. I thought, 'I want to draw this story ['Sukima'] when I have the ability to do so.''
The cover of the first volume of Gao Yan's 'Sukima' published by Kadokawa Corp.
The exquisitely drawn pictures in 'Sukima' capture Yang Yang's memories of her grandmother and childhood days. The manga also depicts the feelings she experiences when she and the man she loves, who is far away, start to grow apart. The classic Japanese pop song 'Kawa no Nagare no Yoni' (Like the flow of a river) appears like a soundtrack and tenderly brings in a lyrical atmosphere.
Gao has also included descriptions of the modern histories and politics of Okinawa Prefecture and Taiwan.
'What I want to draw is not a history or politics textbook but, rather, one woman's memories of young adulthood seen through her eyes,' Gao said. 'I'm sure each and every person goes through different events in their youths.'
She said she likes the Japanese word 'sukima,' which she used as the title of the manga. The word has a meaning similar to 'the space between.'
'I find the space between two things beautiful, like between two different points in time or two objects,' she said. 'That includes the space between two people or two political [situations].'
Manga is limitless
Since she was a child, Gao has been fond of Japanese manga and anime. Having always loved to draw, she got into digital drawing in elementary school. She always liked books, too, and started self-publishing her own manga when she was still a student, all the while dreaming of getting a job in illustration or as a cover artist. She said that she ultimately decided to become a professional manga artist because 'a single image is not enough to tell the story I want to tell.'
Eventually, she discovered the Japanese manga magazine 'Garo.'
'It was crammed with so many extraordinary works that I felt as if I'd discovered a goldmine,' she said. She was fascinated by the fact that the works in the magazine were all experimental and that whatever the artists drew was published as manga. She read works that had not been translated or published in Taiwan at the time by looking up the words and phrases she did not know.
Gao Yan
'I felt that manga is limitless,' she said. 'I also want to draw works that are limitless.'
In 2022, she published the manga 'Midori no Uta: Shushu Gunpu' ('The Song About Green: Gather the Wind') simultaneously in Japan and Taiwan. The work, which revolves around a Taiwan girl in love with a Japanese song, marked her professional debut as a manga artist.
Her recent works include illustrations for Haruki Murakami's picture book 'Shigatsu no Aru Hareta Asa ni 100% no Onnanoko ni Deau Koto ni Tsuite' (On seeing the 100% perfect girl on one beautiful April morning), published in February this year.
The frame-by-frame development of the story in 'Sukima' has a good contrast of dynamic and static elements, creating a pleasant kind of camerawork, like that of a film.
'I create my work like I'm making a film,' Gao said. 'I hope people will read it like they are watching a film.'
The third volume of 'Sukima' came out in April.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asahi Shimbun
9 hours ago
- Asahi Shimbun
Manga artist Ito inducted into Will Eisner comic Hall of Fame
Manga artist Junji Ito stands in front of an illustration from one of his works. (Asahi Shimbun file photo) Horror manga artist Junji Ito was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame, it was announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2025. The awards are known as the 'Oscars' of the comic industry. Among Ito's representative works are 'Tomie' and 'Uzumaki' (Spiral). A judges' panel had decided on 21 inductees to the Hall of Fame, including Shigeru Mizuki (1922-2015). An additional seven artists, Ito among them, were voted in. In the past, Ito, 61, won Eisner Awards on four occasions, including for the English version of 'Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection.' Born in 1963 in Nakatsugawa, Gifu Prefecture, Ito became a dental technician after graduating from senior high school. He debuted as a manga artist after winning an honorable mention for 'Tomie' when the Kazuo Umezu Prize for rookie cartoon artists was announced in the magazine Monthly Halloween in 1986. Other Japanese inductees in the Eisner Hall of Fame are Osamu Tezuka, Hayao Miyazaki, Moto Hagio, known for 'The Poe Clan,' and Keiji Nakazawa, creator of 'Barefoot Gen.' Ito issued a statement saying he was deeply honored to join such an esteemed list of manga artists. He added that he believed Japanese manga was being praised abroad because it has become known for its variety of genres and the depth of the stories told. The awards are named after American cartoonist Will Eisner.
Japan Today
10 hours ago
- Japan Today
Latvian staffer at Osaka expo goes viral with love of Japan
A Latvian staff member at the World Exposition in Osaka has drawn over half a million social media followers after posting about his experience of engaging with Japanese language and culture as a foreigner. Artur Galata, 31, who has been posting on X and Instagram, said he was "very happy to work in my favorite country" after having visited 11 times since April 2017, traveling to more than 40 of the 47 prefectures. Galata has been fascinated by Japanese anime since watching it aired in the Latvian language when he was an elementary school student. He then deepened his knowledge of Japanese culture and customs by reading books related to the country given him by his family. "The most attractive part is the kindness of Japanese people," Galata said, adding he has been particularly impressed by the well-maintained roads, packaging for onigiri rice balls sold at convenience stores, and how he was served at restaurants. His popular social media posts include humorous descriptions of how certain Japanese words using the same kanji characters are read differently and expressing his amusement about soy beans transforming into different kinds of food such as miso, soy sauce and tofu. In the expo, Galata has been working at the Baltic Pavilion jointly presented by Latvia and Lithuania, using four languages to welcome guests. He enjoys communicating with his followers and going to karaoke with other expo staff. During his planned eight-month stay, which began in April, Galata plans to visit the remaining prefectures he has yet to travel to, he said. © KYODO
Yomiuri Shimbun
12 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Horror Master Kiyoshi Kurosawa to Bring Eerie Storytelling to His First Samurai Film
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, known as a master of horror films set within the neurotic realism of the modern day, will bring his signature edge-of-your-seat storytelling to a genre he has never tackled before: the samurai movie. 'I do want to do it once, and it looks like it might be really happening, although things are still uncertain. I may finally be able to make my samurai film,' he told The Associated Press, noting he couldn't give much detail just yet. His upcoming samurai film will not have sword-fight scenes or action-packed outdoor shots that characterize the genre, known as 'jidaigeki.' Instead, it will be the same creepy quiet narrative of Kurosawa movies, where the action takes place almost claustrophobically, in this case, in a castle that just happens to be set in the samurai era. That concept alone is enough to pique a movie lover's interest. The horror master was just honored at this year's Japan Cuts film festival in New York. The festival presented him the Cut Above award, international recognition that follows the Silver Lion at the 2020 Venice Film Festival for 'Wife of a Spy,' centered around a troubled married couple during World War II. Kurosawa, who is not related to 'Seven Samurai' and 'Rashomon,' director Akira Kurosawa, said period pieces are difficult to make due to the extraordinary costs of sets, props and costuming. He also made it clear he isn't interested in directing science fiction, but rather pursues realism. However, he readily acknowledged that his films are all made up, in fact, 'a lie.' 'Maybe this is my weakness, or my characteristic; I want to tell my stories in a setting of a very real modern-day society, yet I want to entertain,' he said. 'And so it's a contradiction that I aim for every time,' 'You create a lie, like a horrific character (in a realistic framework),' he said. Kurosawa, who has managed to produce a film a year over his 40-year career, invests a lot of time researching the setting and backdrop of his films, including much reading, to make it as realistic as possible. In his most recent thriller, 'Cloud,' a man who is down on his luck, portrayed by Masaki Suda, makes dubious profits by reselling items he finds online at far higher prices. It starts harmless enough, except, as the plot thickens, the protagonist is confronted by victims out for revenge. Kurosawa is not one to hold back on violence, often gory and extreme but beautifully shot, sometimes almost comical in its bizarreness. 'Cure,' a 1997 film about a police detective investigating a series of gruesome murders, starring Koji Yakusho, uses continuous shots purposely without cuts to bring out the varied emotions, and the coldness of the characters, sometimes changing viscerally within the same scene, to explore madness. Despite his insistence on realism, Kurosawa, who counts Alfred Hitchcock among his influences, doesn't rule out the addition of tiny unreal elements for that perfectly subtle and eerie effect. But his movies are never happy-go-lucky, he said. 'Everything being happy is not possible if you start with the realism of modern-day Japan,' said Kurosawa. Kurosawa believes that while filmmaking is usually a giant confusing project where multiple players must work together, producers worrying about the box office and actors concerned about their roles, it is ultimately about dealing with what feels right to your deepest self. 'In the end, it all boils down to: I understand there are many opinions, but we must choose what is right. What does being right mean? To figure that out is the creator's job,' he said.
