Graphic Fiction by Osamu Tezuka

Translated from the Japanese by Camellia Nieh

Important Note:

This story is an excerpt from one of the most most popular manga series of all time, Black Jack.

Japanese books are meant to be read from right to left, so begin reading in the top right-hand corner (where the old man is pouring tea.) Then, read the panels from right to left, drop down to the next row and repeat. —Editors

Navigation

Click the Next button to read the story.

Definitions

M.O.: Modus operandi or “mode of operation,” a term used to describe criminals' methods.
necrosis: The death of body tissue from disease, injury, or lack of blood supply.
loupe: A small magnifying glass.

First published in English in Words Without Borders' February 2009 issue: The Graphic World, Part III: (Worth) Ten Thousand Words.

for Tetsu of the Yamanote Line
https://wwb-campus.org/literature/tetsu-of-the-yamanote-line

Osamu Tezuka

Osamu Tezuka (1928–89) is the god of Japanese manga comics. He originally intended to become a doctor and earned his degree before turning to what was still then considered a frivolous medium. With his sweeping vision, deftly intertwined plots, and indefatigable commitment to human dignity, Tezuka elevated manga to an art form. Black Jack is his most popular work among adult readers in Japan.

Camellia Nieh (translator)

Camellia Nieh has translated manga and novels from the Japanese. Her credits include Tezuka masterpieces such as Ode to Kirihito, MW, and Black Jack.

Links available online only

Meet Osamu Tezuka

Known as the “God of Manga,” Osamu Tezuka is the “most revered artist in the medium’s history.” Find out more in Yani Mentzas’ post “Is Tezuka God?” on WWB. (Read more of Mentzas’ posts on manga translation.)

Learn about the life and influence of Osamu Tezuka in “Godfather of Anime, Osamu Tezuka” from the tofugu blog. Scroll down to see video clips of his works.Then, take a virtual visit to the Osamu Tezuka Museum via Google’s Cultural Institute. Read sample pages from The Osamu Tezuka Story: A Life in Manga and Anime, a graphic biography.

Thanks to Osamu Tezuka’s medical degree, his graphic depictions of surgeries are anatomically accurate, or, at the very least, convincing. Find out the real-life influence of Dr. Black Jack in “Osamu Tezuka: Father of manga and scourge of the medical establishment” from The Guardian.

Hear the Names

Listen to pronunciations of the Japanese names and places from this story, read aloud by the translator Allison Markin Powell.

For more tips on pronouncing Japanese names and words, use this illustrated guide from wikiHow.com and this explanation of sounds, syllables, and stress from JapanesePod101.com.

More on "Black Jack"

Read an in-depth description of Black Jack from the site Tezuka in English, which calls the manga the first of the “medical thriller genre,” for which Tezuka drew from his own medical degree.

Then, read about Black Jack, Osama Tezuka’s manga magazine where “Tetsu of the Yamanote Line” was originally published as the 219th episode on June 19, 1978. (Scroll down to Episode 219 to see a synopsis of this story, “Light Fingers.”)

While Osamu Tezuka began his work with manga (comic books and graphic novels), he also played an important role in the development of anime (animated comics) in Japan. Learn about Tezuka’s anime, including Black Jack, in the second half of the article.

On the Map: Yamanote Line

Take a look at the circular map of the Yamanote Line and learn a bit about its “storied history.”

Then, watch a video of the Tokyo subways and streets in the 1970s, when this story takes place.

(Watch the video on YouTube.)

Yakuza: Organized Crime in Japan

Learn more about the lives of Japanese gangsters like the ones that menaced Tetsu: "Yakuza," from JapanReference.com.

Background on Japan

Read the BBC's short country profile of Japan, or visit nippon.com for the latest news.

Links available online only

More from Osamu Tezuka

Read other stories from the Black Jack series, also translated by Camellia Nieh.

Then, browse through the extensive collection of Osamu Tezuka's works on the site Tezuka in English.

Tezuka's "Stars"

Osamu Tezuka used a “star system” in which “actors” rotated around, playing several characters. Learn more about Acetylene Lamp, who plays the Inspector.

The pickpocket Tetsu also appeared in the Black Jack television series. Read the Tetsu character profile to find out how he started pickpocketing, at least according to the series (which has plot differences from the manga.)

Idolizing Disney

How much was Tezuka influenced by Disney? Read "Tezuka Osamu and American Comics" for an exploration of this question through Tezuka’s personal writing and comics.

Taking the Subway in Tokyo

Take a tour of the Yamanote line—which is the largest and most important subway line in Tokyo—today in the video “Exploring the Yamanote Line.”

(Watch the video on YouTube.)

Look at a photo of a full subway car in Tokyo from the 1970s or ‘80s.

Also look at a 1972 photo of the “Tokyo Push”—attendants helping passengers squeeze onto a very, very full subway car. (Click to enlarge.)

Look through subway etiquette posters that were on subway walls in 1970s Tokyo, and even include illustrations from manga artists like Osama Tezuka (with Astro Boy reminding passengers to take their umbrellas) and Tetsuya Chiba (with Uesugi Teppei giving up his seat).

Listen to the jingle that plays at the Takadanobaba stop of the Yamanote line—the theme song from Osama Tezuka’s “Astro Boy” anime show. A futuristic version of this stop is the setting of the show and the “Astro Boy” manga.

(Watch the video on YouTube.)

How might Tetsu fare in today's Tokyo subways, which employ "nudge theory" to discourage bad behavior? Find out more in "The Amazing Psychology of Japanese Train Stations," from citylab.

Look through photographer Michael Wolf’s photographs of contemporary trains: Tokyo Compression.

Tokyo in the ‘70s

Watch a 30-second video of a drive through Tokyo in the 1970s.

(Watch the video on YouTube.)

. . . And of people on the busy Tokyo streets.

(Watch the video on YouTube.)

Look at photographs from an exhibit on experimental Japanese photography from the time period of this story in “Radical Japanese Photography from the 1960s and ‘70s” from Flavorwire.

Photographer Issei Suda’s Tokyokei includes “dreamlike” photos of 1970s and 80s Tokyo.

Then, look through “Intimate Portraits from 1970s Tokyo,” from the exhibit Tokyo 1970s, which showcases the complexity of Tokyo through photos of people there (some nudity).

Literary Companions

Read the "fictional memoir" A Drifting Life, by Yoshihiro Tatsumi, a manga artist who was influenced by Osama Tezuka. In the excerpt on WWB Campus, Tezuka makes an appearance.

A Trip to the Takarazuka Revue

Osamu Tezuka’s manga works were influenced by his childhood visits to the Takarazuka Revue, an all-female musical theater group in his hometown. Learn about the “Disney-like” Tarazuka Revue and see pictures of the costumes that influenced Tezuka's drawings.

Watch a brief video of a performance below:

(Watch the video on YouTube.)

Then, watch a trailer for a documentary about the Revue.

(Watch the video on YouTube.)

After the Bomb: Manga Artists of the Postwar Era

Find out how the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki influenced manga artists like Osamu Tezuka, whose works featured a futuristic Japan and themes of death and rebirth.

Then, find out about other postwar manga influenced by Osamu Tezuka's futuristic works in “Manga and the Bomb” from Al Jazeera.

Osamu Tezuka: Setting the Standard

The influence of Osamu Tezuka’s work on manga and anime has been so strong that some artists found themselves imitating Tezuka’s work until they deliberately “started from scratch”. Read about Tezuka’s influence on Yoshihiro Tatsumi, creator of A Drifting Life, also published on WWB Campus, and Hayao Miyazaki (halfway down).

Note: There are some graphic images of nudity in the Comics Journal reproductions of Tatsumi’s work.

Metropolis: A Tezuka-Inspired Anime

Watch the trailer for the anime film Metropolis, which was based on Osamu Tezuka’s early illustrations.

A Selection of Haiku Poetry

Read some haiku poetry from Basho, who wrote the lines Tetsu sings on the first page—“The Suruga road smells like tea.”

A Readers' Digest for Manga Lovers

Want to read more manga? Read new manga in English published weekly in Shonen Jump online.

More Sympathetic Criminals in Literature*

O. Henry's short story "The Ransom of the Red Chief" (PDF)
Oliver Twist, a novel by Charles Dickens
Native Son, a novel by Richard Wright

Meet other charming criminals, or Lovable Rogues, from television, literature, other manga, and many other mediums.

Then, meet the character that often comes alongside a Lovable Rogue: The Sympathetic Inspector.

* For Teaching Idea 1

Tetsu of the Yamanote Line

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