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Men Under Pressure: Representations of the `Salaryman' and his Organization in Japanese Manga

Peter Matanle

School of East Asian Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, p.matanle{at}sheffield.ac.uk

Leo McCann

Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK, leo.mccann{at}mbs.ac.uk

Darren Ashmore

Akita International University, Akita City, Japan, lupin3{at}aiu.ac.jp

In this paper we analyse representations of the Japanese salaryman and Japanese organization in Japanese manga, or graphic novels, during the turbulent decades from the mid-1980s to the present day. We argue that manga presents salarymen protagonists in a sympathetic yet not uncritical light, and that it displays support for and criticism of both the Japanese and American organizational models. In addition, we describe how these manga offer important critical challenges from the world of popular culture to the direction of change in Japanese business organizations since the 1980s. Moreover, we suggest that the manga may also provide salarymen with opportunities for critically re-evaluating their own working situations and for developing methods for surviving and thriving under the pressures of working within contemporary Japanese business organizations.

Key Words: capitalism • graphic novels • Japan • Japanese • management • manga • salaryman

Organization, Vol. 15, No. 5, 639-664 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1350508408093646
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