Rumi SakamotoTo communicate such a highly problematic perspective, Kobayashi takes advantage of man-
ga’s visual characteristics and affective potential. In particular, the Gōmanizumu series uses a
unique mix of comedic “gag manga,” investigative journalism, conspiracy theory, and self-
portrayal to influence readers. The narrative pleasure comes from identifying with Kobayashi the
author-narrator-character as he relentlessly challenges his opponents, effortlessly picking flaws
in historical records, photographic evidence of Japanese atrocities, and publications sympathetic
towards the wartime victims of the Japanese military. Kobayashi constructs a textual persona
that is intelligent and brave (often exposing the “hidden truth” and “taboos”) but also passionate
and at times downright silly. Revisionist messages are transmitted with anger, frustration, tears,
and rage, and are interspersed with self-revelations and episodes from Kobayashi’s childhood,
including his weaknesses, quirks, and flaws, all presented visually and affectively. This strategy
encourages empathy and identification. A sense of connection and belonging is created via the
affective dimension of manga, which then gets exploited to support the revisionist cause.
By merging popular entertainment with revisionism, post-1990s revisionist manga inter-
vened in political discussion from an informal, non-elitist public space, aiming to mobilize
readers to support historical revisionism. While these manga in many ways just repeat the revi-
sionism circulating in the wider public sphere, the medium of manga, as an affective, popular
art form with a high plasticity of representation, makes an appeal to emotion, not just intellect
and rationality, which has significantly contributed to the recent growth and acceptance of neo-
nationalist and revisionist ideas in Japan.
As popular culture is drawn into the landscape of heavily contested war memories, entertain-
ment media like manga and film have sometimes become battlegrounds in Japan’s “history war.”
Films, anime, and manga are now commonly attacked or defended on the basis of their historical
perspective and factual accuracy. Even Barefoot Gen, the iconic A-bomb manga, was removed
from the shelves of several school and public libraries in 2013 following a complaint about its
depictions of atrocities by the Japanese military in China and its “wrong historical viewpoint”
(they were reinstated after much media attention and the circulation of petitions that collected
over 17,000 signatures).
The Nanjing Massacre is a particularly fertile ground for the revisionists’ attempt to create
a new consensus over the interpretation of history. For instance, in 2004 a controversy ensued
when a Japanese manga series, The Country is Burning (serialized in a popular manga magazine,
Young Jump Weekly from 2002 to 2005), included some graphic scenes of mass killings and rape
of Chinese by Japanese soldiers during the Nanjing Massacre (Motomiya 2004). This was dur-
ing the time when the Nanjing Massacre had become a major diplomatic controversy between
China and Japan, and right-wing activists and conservative politicians protested, arguing that the
manga’s depiction humiliated the Japanese people. Despite the disclaimer that this manga was a
work of fiction, The Country is Burning quickly became the subject of a political battle over the
memory and history of the massacre. The series was suspended following an online campaign,
a petition, phone and email complaints, and right-wing activists’ haranguing at the head office
of the publishing company for three consecutive days. The publisher even issued an apology,
promising the deletion and adjustment of “inappropriate scenes.” Publishers’ organizations, jour-
nalist groups, academics, and citizens voiced their concern that this compromised freedom of
expression and condemned the revisionist attempt to whitewash history, but the two Nanjing
Massacre episodes were completely omitted from the paperback edition published later (Honda
2004; Kasahara 2005).
This incident revealed how popular culture can be entangled with contemporary conflicts
over history. Even though manga is ultimately an entertainment commodity, The Country is
Burning was treated as if it were a history textbook or academic historiography. Critics and