"Manga" is a particular art that Japan distributes throughout the world. There are a significant number of young people in the West who study the Japanese language in order to enjoy manga and Japanese anime. Among Japanese people, manga is for all generations; it is not an unusual sight to see a middle-aged man and a high school student sitting next to each other on the train reading the same manga.
"Shojo (girls) manga" is a particular genre in manga. Initially the readers were girls, and many of the shojo-manga artists were young women. Its style was rather literary and was characteristically poetic. However, during the 30 years since its peak of popularity, shojo manga has expanded the world and the experiences that it portrays. It has matured into the genre that is now called josei (women) manga and is well-established.

The 1960s: The Arival of Shojo-Manga Magazines
It is said that the baby-boomers are the first generation that continued to read manga after becoming adults; and I am one of them. However, I stopped reading manga for a long time after having immersed myself in manga up until I was in elementary school. Looking back at the time when I stopped reading
manga, I think it was when "Shojo Friend," the very first magazine targeting girls as its readers, started to be published. This new magazine started with a lot of momentum and seemed to be trying to create a new culture among girls. The magazine contained topics that weren't openly talked about, or weren't expressed in a direct manner, such as a girl's physical changes in their adolescence like menstruation. It also had romantic stories and had a strong focus on being "a girl." The early 1960s was the time that gender-based home economics classes were established. The early 1960s also saw the spread of the 3-year-old myth, which was made legitimate by the beginning of health checks for 3- year old children. It was during this time that I stopped reading manga, which corresponded with the movement towards gendered education (not gender-free education) and also towards a division of roles based on gender. Some of my junior high school friends thought the magazine was revolutionary and had a positive attitude about it. I, on the other hand, was having a difficult time establishing my own identity as "a women," and felt awkward and uncomfortable with the magazine's strong message to "be a girl." I developed a prejudice against the strong message that all girls must yearn for boys. Thus, I distanced myself from manga and magazines that targeted girls as readers.

Shojo Manga Evolution ―The Case of "Iguana no Musume"
After I became an adult, I came across the works of "the Hanano 24-Nengumi (the Magnificent Twenty- Four, a group of manga artists born in 1949 - Showa 24 according to the Japanese calendar)," including Moto Hagio, Keiko Takemiya, and Ryoko Yamagishi. I had found it astonishing that manga had made such an evolutionary change while I was away from the scene. Serious pictures with clever jokes, and beautiful boys and girls suddenly being goofy in the next frame represent how the artist freely goes back and forth between a character being attractive in one moment and a clown in the next. I was fascinated by the skillful technique that allowed the comical and the serious to live together in addition to being moved by the message that the stories contain.
If I were to name one of the best works, it would be Moto Hagio's "Iguana no Musume (The Daughter of Iguana)" (1991). A mother sees herself in her daughter; the mother's ugly self that she has denied and pushed deep into her unconsciousness is projected onto the daughter. The mother becomes disturbed and begins to avoid and treat the daughter badly without realizing what she is doing. Hagio's excellent art and story skills portray the emotional conflict very well. She shows how the mother affects the daughter's own identity, and how the daughter internalizes her mother's unconscious inferiority. Hagio also describes, in detail, a picture of the daughter's growing resentment toward the mother for not loving her and the daughter's lonely independence. Hagio aptly inserts humor at just the right moment to ease the heaviness of the theme.
Hagio's work captures the sense of struggle and helplessness that people feel at being categorized as women and forced to play that particular role. Even when portraying the relationship between boys, they seem similar to girls who are hurt by being "women." This characteristic is found in other works by 24- Nengumi artists. They provide an impetus to step beyond gender framework and question the principle behind gender and sex that limits and constrains girls. Utilizing the unique technique and language that manga has as a way of expressing ideas, they offer a sense of freedom and momentum and goes beyond limitation. In other words, it offers a sense of hope and possibility.

Manga Artist Kazue Ohyama (Osaka prefecture resident)
"Some people say that manga is an art, but to me, it's way to relax; it's a form of entertainment, so to speak. I want the readers to relax and enjoy my work, and maybe they can find it somewhat useful or helpful." Ms. Kazue Ohyama has been drawing story manga since her debut in 1973. (Story manga is a branch of manga that focuses more on a story versus comedy.) She made a big hit in 1980 with her shojo-manga titled "Shimaizaka." "Shimaizaka" describes the enthusiasm of youth and centers on four sisters who are not biologically related; it is a song in praise of living. It was published in a magazine for 6 years, and had an effect on the lifestyle of many young girls during their developmental period. In 1986, Mr. Nobuhiko Ohbayashi made "Shimaizaka" into a film. The young stars who at that time played the roles of the sisters have all become very successful actors.
Ms. Ohyama has since shifted her focus towards "ladies' comics." "In Japan, ladies' magazines became popular about 10 years ago. I guess I was lucky to catch the wave at that time. Mainstream Shojo-manga at that time was romantic comedy. Initially, there was an impression that ladies' magazines contained a lot of sexual content, but now they actually cover various topics such as raising children, work, and social problems," she says.
One of Ms. Ohyama's current themes is "the battle with breast cancer," which she draws from her personal experience. She says, "Until I got breast cancer fourand- a-half years ago, I knew nothing about this type of cancer. One in every 23 women gets breast cancer. I want as many women as possible to overcome this illness through early detection and early treatment."
In her work, Ms. Ohyama realistically portrays the life and mind of breast cancer patients and the conflicts in their relationships. She is active and has organized a breast cancer support group and tries to enlighten people about breast cancer through her manga.
It can be said that Japanese manga is very advanced and sophisticated in terms of its technique and content, which attracts a lot of fans in Asia and in the West. Ms. Ohyama says, "manga reflects daily life in different countries. I look forward to the future when we'll be able to see many unique works from other countries."
Ms. Ohyama giggled in the end of the interview, "Manga is so much more fun to draw than to read."

(Interview by Ushio Chiba)