Japan’s tennis champion Naomi Osaka, who is biracial, was depicted in early cartoon representations with white skin and light-colored hair, causing an uproar from Japan to Australia. But now, with a new comic that celebrates her exploits – and better portrays her features – Ms. Osaka joins the crowded pantheon of strong female characters and a small but growing gallery of Black characters in Japanese manga.
Creators of manga, and its movie counterpart anime, have all too often relied on stereotypes in portraying the features of Black people.
Author and Japan Times columnist Baye McNeil points to the earlier debacle over Ms. Osaka’s cartoon image as a catalyst for change. “As awareness is raised in various Japanese media,” he says, “some artists are definitely taking better care when they choose to include non-Japanese characters in their works. Nobody wants to be the focus of negative global attention. It’s sad, but sometimes it takes an incident like this to mak