is a Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

by Maekawa Tsukasa, originally published in the mid-1980s. The title roughly translates to "Greater Tokyo Poverty Living Manual", and is an apt description of the

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...

's premise.

The story

The protagonist of ''Dai-Tokyo'' is Kōsuke, a college graduate who decides to live a simple 'no frills' lifestyle on little money in the

Greater Tokyo Area The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, consisting of the Kantō region of Japan (including Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis and the prefectures of Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, Gunma Prefecture, Gunma, Ibaraki Prefecture, ...

. He has no full-time employment, and instead works only part-time jobs and does chores around the neighborhood in exchange for goods and services. He spends his free time enjoying life's simple pleasures, reading, conversing with neighbors, and going out with his girlfriend. In this way Kōsuke breaks many traditions of Japanese society, such as not taking on the role of

salaryman The term is a Japanese word for salary, salaried workers. In Japanese popular culture, it is portrayed as a white-collar worker who shows unwavering loyalty and commitment to his employer, prioritizing work over anything else, including family. ...

and striving for personal economic betterment. Despite this, Kōsuke is well respected and liked by his neighbors and friends, even if they do find him and his

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

a bit peculiar. In the end, Kōsuke's philosophy of mixing 'poor' living with intellect and traditional Japanese values affirms much of

Japanese culture Japanese culture has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world. Since the Jomon period, ancestral ...

and its traditions, rather than tears them down.

Use of the word ''binbō''

In the title of, and throughout the manga, Maekawa chose to spell the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

word for poverty, ''binbō'', using

katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...

instead of the usual

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

for two reasons. First, using katakana instead of a more traditional spelling gives a word a stronger emphasis (similar to italicizing or bolding a word in English). Second, using katakana can indicate that a word's usage does not fall into the traditional meaning or sense of the word. The katakana lends emphasis since the manga revolves around Kōsuke's 'poor lifestyle', and it differentiates his lifestyle (which he explicitly chose for himself) from the usual definition of

poverty Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

. So despite there being a common and easily recognizable kanji compound for ''binbō'' (貧乏), a katakana spelling is used instead (ビンボー).

'Binbō' as a philosophy

The very first page of the manga declares its philosophy: an army of characters from the manga holding up miniature Japanese flags yelling, "Extravagance is the enemy!" (ゼイタクは敵だ!! ''Zeitaku wa teki da!!''). Two banners are held up in the background exclaiming, "Poverty is fashion" (ビンボーはファションだ ''Binbou wa fashon da'') and, "Poverty is an ideology, it is life itself" (ビンボーは思想だ人生そのものだ ''Binbou wa shisou da / Jinsei sono mono da''). Maekawa's use of the Japanese flag is to show that the image most associated with Japan—that of the hardworking, self-sacrificing, upwardly mobile Japanese salaryman—is not all there is to life in Japan. It is at the same time a condemnation of the excessive luxury and rampant consumption of much of the Japanese dominant society, and a championing of those left out of mainstream Japanese society. (Indeed, the first chapter's title announces, "I'm an ally of the poor man" (私、ビンボー人の味方です ''Watashi, binbou-jin no mikata desu'').) His message that you don't have to have a lot of money and material goods to make yourself happy is repeated again and again throughout the story. The manga's ''binbō'' philosophy can be seen as similar to the

voluntary simplicity Simple living refers to practices that promote simplicity in one's lifestyle. Common practices of simple living include reducing the number of possessions one owns, depending less on technology and services, and spending less money. In addition t ...

movement, despite Maekawa's somewhat different reasons for rejection of a

consumerist ''Consumerist'' (also known as ''The Consumerist'') was a non-profit consumer affairs website owned by Consumer Media LLC, a subsidiary of ''Consumer Reports'', with content created by a team of full-time reporters and editors. The site's focu ...

lifestyle.

''Dai-Tokyo'' as a living guide

Although ''Dai-Tokyo's'' main concern may be entertainment and

political statement The term political statement is used to refer to a communication which makes commentary on an issue of political, identity or social significance. There is no limit on the form a political statement may take - they may be written, verbal, constitut ...

, it also serves as a how-to guide for pulling off a successful and happy poor lifestyle. The entire second page of the manga is devoted to examples of 'cheap living', with several practical instances given, including ways to save money on food, drink, shoes, clothing accessories, and others. More examples are sprinkled throughout the rest of the manga as story elements. Outside of specific money-saving examples, many free or cheap activities, including games, cultural events, festivals, and so on are portrayed throughout the manga. Despite the manga's Japan-only availability, at least one writer has recommended ''Dai-Tokyo'' to people traveling to Japan as a good guide on how to enjoy their stay without spending too much.

Publication

There have been no official English translations of the manga as a whole (and thus no official English title), but Mangajin has translated several chapters in their magazine and small portions of it (a panel at a time) for use in various books as a teaching aid for those learning

. The original Japanese manga first appeared in the weekly manga ''Morning'' (モーニング) from March 1986 to October 1989. A total of 167 episodes appeared during this time, and two new episodes were written for the 2005 reprint. It has been collected in five volumes (tankōbon) twice, and again most recently as a two volume set: * Wide KC Morning (ワイドKCモーニング) ** ''Dai-Tokyo Binbo Seikatsu Manual Vol. 1'' (1987) ** ''Dai-Tokyo Binbo Seikatsu Manual Vol. 2'' (1988) ** ''Dai-Tokyo Binbo Seikatsu Manual Vol. 3'' (1988) ** ''Dai-Tokyo Binbo Seikatsu Manual Vol. 4'' (1989) ** ''Dai-Tokyo Binbo Seikatsu Manual Vol. 5'' (1989) *

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

Manga Library (講談社まんが文庫 ''Kōdansha Manga Bunko'') ** ''Dai-Tokyo Binbo Seikatsu Manual Vol. 1'' (1995) ** ''Dai-Tokyo Binbo Seikatsu Manual Vol. 2'' (1995) ** ''Dai-Tokyo Binbo Seikatsu Manual Vol. 3'' (1995) ** ''Dai-Tokyo Binbo Seikatsu Manual Vol. 4'' (1995) ** ''Dai-Tokyo Binbo Seikatsu Manual Vol. 5'' (1995) *

**''Dai-Tokyo Binbou Seikatsu Manual Vol. 1'' (2005) **''Dai-Tokyo Binbou Seikatsu Manual Vol. 2'' (2005)

References

1986 manga Manga series Seinen manga {{DEFAULTSORT:Dai-Tōkyō Binbō Seikatsu Manual