Manga author Yukichi Yamamatsu’s autobiographical depiction talks about his experiences in India in trying to promote his book
The year 2004 may well be termed one of the worst years for Manga author Yukichi Yamamatsu. He paid a visit to India, having never before left Japan, armed with little money, knowing less English, no sigmoid colon, and absolutely no idea of what to expect. The only dream he had was to popularise Manga, or Japanese adult comics, in India in Hindi. But his journey of India turned disastrous when six months down the line he failed to sell even a single book. Unfortunately, he had to fly back to Japan. But he was not among those who give up easily. Therefore, goes his tale, he penned down his entire experience of India in a book titled Stupid Guy Goes to India.
“That time India didn’t have any comics. That fascinated me in India. Therefore, I thought why can’t I sell these books in India too. But when I landed here I tried to sell it. But then I wondered why I couldn’t make even a single Samurai Manga in India. I felt disheartened and stupid. I flew back to Japan. Later on I planned to pen down all of my good or bad experiences of India. So I came up with this book,” said, the author, Yukichi Yamamatsu, who still does not know English.
Stupid Guy Goes to India, which was launched at Yodakin Bookstore in Haus Khas village, is a comic book based on the true experience of Yukich’s adventures in India such as playing marbles, searching for bathrooms, betting on horses, visiting a brothel and his madcap mission to sell Hindi translations of Samurai Manga on the mean streets of the nation’s Capital. “When I landed in India I had to face many difficulties. The first thing was a language barrier and other one was to rent a house. These were the major problems that I had to face during my stay at India,” recalled the author.
During his stay in India, the author learnt lots about India. In his book, he does not pull any punches. For instance, he does not hesitate to mention that Indians lie a lot and never complete their task on time. But at the same time the author also calls Indian people very helpful. “Once when I was coming from the railway station to Chandini Chowk I hired an auto. When I got down then the auto driver was asking double or triple money. Then I started negotiating with him but he took no time to shout at me. Hearing all this fuss a few people gathered there. And they took my side. So since that day I understood that Indians are very helpful,” said the author.
The book is an autobiographic narration and was earlier published in Japanese in 2008. Later on it was translated into English by Kumar Sivasubramanian to woo the Indian readers.
The year 2004 may well be termed one of the worst years for Manga author Yukichi Yamamatsu. He paid a visit to India, having never before left Japan, armed with little money, knowing less English, no sigmoid colon, and absolutely no idea of what to expect. The only dream he had was to popularise Manga, or Japanese adult comics, in India in Hindi. But his journey of India turned disastrous when six months down the line he failed to sell even a single book. Unfortunately, he had to fly back to Japan. But he was not among those who give up easily. Therefore, goes his tale, he penned down his entire experience of India in a book titled Stupid Guy Goes to India.
“That time India didn’t have any comics. That fascinated me in India. Therefore, I thought why can’t I sell these books in India too. But when I landed here I tried to sell it. But then I wondered why I couldn’t make even a single Samurai Manga in India. I felt disheartened and stupid. I flew back to Japan. Later on I planned to pen down all of my good or bad experiences of India. So I came up with this book,” said, the author, Yukichi Yamamatsu, who still does not know English.
Stupid Guy Goes to India, which was launched at Yodakin Bookstore in Haus Khas village, is a comic book based on the true experience of Yukich’s adventures in India such as playing marbles, searching for bathrooms, betting on horses, visiting a brothel and his madcap mission to sell Hindi translations of Samurai Manga on the mean streets of the nation’s Capital. “When I landed in India I had to face many difficulties. The first thing was a language barrier and other one was to rent a house. These were the major problems that I had to face during my stay at India,” recalled the author.
During his stay in India, the author learnt lots about India. In his book, he does not pull any punches. For instance, he does not hesitate to mention that Indians lie a lot and never complete their task on time. But at the same time the author also calls Indian people very helpful. “Once when I was coming from the railway station to Chandini Chowk I hired an auto. When I got down then the auto driver was asking double or triple money. Then I started negotiating with him but he took no time to shout at me. Hearing all this fuss a few people gathered there. And they took my side. So since that day I understood that Indians are very helpful,” said the author.
The book is an autobiographic narration and was earlier published in Japanese in 2008. Later on it was translated into English by Kumar Sivasubramanian to woo the Indian readers.
