U.S. Navy Tries Hand at ‘Propamanga’

Travel Blog  •  Julia Ross  •  06.19.08 | 10:23 AM ET

The U.S. Navy is appealing to Japan’s otaku to help win hearts and minds. To ease concerns over the arrival of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington in Japan this summer, navy officials commissioned a 200-page manga depicting life aboard the ship through the eyes of fictional Japanese-American petty officer Jack O’Hara. See a PDF here.

Stars and Stripes reports that 800 copies of the graphic novel were distributed to a long line of manga fans at Yokosuka Naval Base last week, but the jury’s out on whether it will soothe the sometimes tense relations between the U.S. military and Japanese public.

At least one Japanese blogger has dubbed the effort “propamanga.”

Though Salon’s Andrew Leonard finds the storyline “excruciatingly dull,” copies are going for $11.50 and up on eBay. 

Tags: Asia, Japan, North America, United States

Julia Ross is a Washington, DC-based writer and frequent contributor to World Hum. She has lived in China and Taiwan, where she was a Fulbright scholar and Mandarin student. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Time, Christian Science Monitor, Plenty and other publications. Her essay, Six Degrees of Vietnam, was shortlisted for "The Best American Travel Writing 2009."


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