This July 2020 file photo shows Tetsuya Chiba. In the background is an illustration of Joe Yabuki, the main character of his manga series "Ashita no Joe." (Mainichi/Kimi Takeuchi)

       TOKYO -- It's been 65 years since the debut of "Ashita no Joe" ("Tomorrow's Joe") manga artist Chiba Tetsuya, and his latest work has recently been released -- an autobiographical collection of short comics depicting the progress of postwar Japan from an ordinary person's perspective.

       In his new collection "Tetsuya Chiba Short Stories," published by Shogakukan Inc., he also reveals the truth behind an "incident" that put his life as a manga artist in jeopardy. The Mainichi Shimbun interviewed him online and heard his thoughts on the work.

       Chiba, who has produced many masterpieces, is now 82. One memory that he will never forget is his experience of repatriation from the former Manchuria region (now northeast China) immediately after World War II ended. One of the new book's short stories, "Ieji 1945-2003," "the road to home 1945-2003" in Japanese, describes the experience in detail.

       Due to his father's work, Chiba's family went to live in Mukden (present-day Shenyang, China) in the former Manchuria region. On Aug. 15, 1945, the day WWII ended, local Chinese people attacked the Japanese, such as by smashing the windows of their homes.

       The cover of newly published comic book "Tetsuya Chiba Short Stories" is seen. (Photo courtesy of Shogakukan Inc.)

       The Japanese tried to return to their home country, but many lost their lives to raids and diseases. There were also families who killed themselves with hand grenades, people who pleaded with the defeated soldiers to shoot them dead and adults who strangled their now sickly children.

       Although not described in the book, a nail in one of Chiba's leather shoes got stuck in his foot and stopped him walking. It meant the family became separated from the group. However, they had a chance encounter with a Chinese man who was a colleague of his father's, and the man sheltered all six members of Chiba's family for a long time.

       "In my father's company, there were people from China, Mongolia and Korea, and they were good friends. For example, they ate together at the company housing. He didn't feel like he was their ruler because he was Japanese, but instead he socialized with them as colleagues," Chiba recalled. In short, his father's personality likely saved the family.

       Some Japanese people who were returning with the family also once said to Chiba's parents, "It's impossible to bring back four children, why don't you sell one of them (to the Chinese)?"

       "But I guess my mother had to be strong, because she was determined to protect her four children. After about a year, we were all able to return home," the manga artist said.

       Chiba debuted as a manga artist at age 17. Surprisingly, there were no comic books in the house when he was growing up. "I think my mother thought that if we had manga, we wouldn't study. She got angry at us just for saying the 'ma' in manga," he said. It meant he didn't even know "manga artist" was a real job. He grew up thinking that comic strips in magazines and newspapers were "drawn by multiple employees at publishing companies and newspaper companies."

       When he was in high school, he saw a newspaper advertisement recruiting a children's cartoonist, and visited a publishing company in Kanda, Tokyo. "The president was a very nice man. I brought a piece of work that looked like a scribble, but he taught me how to use paper and ink, saying, 'This is how you draw,'" he recalled.

       This image shows a scene from the short story "Ieji 1945-2003" in the comic book "Tetsuya Chiba Short Stories." It depicts Japanese people returning from the former Manchuria (now northeastern China). (Copyright Tetuya Chiba/Shogakukan Inc.)

       Thanks to that president's guidance, Chiba's "Fukushu no Semushi Otoko," ("the Hunchback Avenger"), became his debut work. He received a manuscript fee of 12,351 yen (about $110). It was equivalent to a college graduate's starting salary at the time.

       In the new book's two-part short story "Tomogaki," literally meaning "friends," Chiba tells the whole story of a serious accident he had about 60 years ago.

       Just before completing a manuscript, Chiba accidently went head-first into a studio window. A glass shard pierced his mouth and tore the tendon in his right wrist. He was in no condition to sit and draw at his desk, and Chiba's editor was so worried that he visited Tokiwa-so, an apartment house where famous cartoonists lived at the time, and asked manga artists including Shotaro Ishinomori and Fujio Akatsuka to help complete the work.

       Looking back, Chiba said, "I am grateful that they helped me out even though everyone was exhausted (from their own work). I've stayed friends with the people who helped me at that time. I gained a lot from my injury." After looking at the finished manuscript, he said, "I could tell 'this is Ishinomori's line' and 'that is Akatsuka's,' but I don't think readers noticed."

       For many years, the cause of the accident was put down to Chiba "staggering from lack of sleep and running into the window." But the truth is different.

       When Chiba's editor came to ask for the manuscript, the two of them began fooling around, and Chiba played a popular Japanese prank on his editor in which he jokingly ground his foot into their crotch. But things got too rough, and suddenly Chiba went hurtling into the glass.

       This image shows a scene from the second part of short story "Tomogaki" in the comic book "Tetsuya Chiba Short Stories." (Copyright Tetuya Chiba/Shogakukan Inc.)

       "Since my editor was still working in the field, I kept it a secret for a long time. Now they're retired, I can finally reveal the truth," he said. Chiba was also apparently embarrassed that the incident happened because they were goofing around.

       The manga artist has been conveying the tragedy of war not only in art but also through his lectures. "There was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and air strikes by B-29s. All the Japanese people experienced hell. There's a sense of crisis now over the fact that people who experienced those things are dying year after year. Why did the war happen? If we don't know what really happened, it may happen again. I am studying history again, too," he said.

       Now 82, Chiba's creative spirit has not waned. He continues to write "Hinemosu-Notari Nikki," literally meaning all-day relaxing diary, in Shogakukan's manga magazine "Big Comic."

       Chiba said, "I always ask myself, 'Even if I think it's interesting, will readers feel the same way?' I'm still wondering, but if the readers find it stimulating, I'd like to continue drawing."

       ***

       Tetsuya Chiba

       Born in Tokyo in 1939, Chiba has created many manga series, including numerous serializations in magazines for girls. He has been chairman of the Japan Cartoonists Association since 2018, and president of Bunsei University of Arts since 2019.

       (Japanese original by Hisanori Yashiro, Cultural News Department)

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