Product Description: Daniel Wells begins a new life as an assistant junior high school teacher in the rural Japanese village of Tonoharu. Isolated from those around him by cultural and language barriers, he leads a monastic existence, peppered only by his inept pursuit of the company of a fellow American who lives a couple towns over. But contrary to appearances, Dan isn't the only foreigner to call Tonoharu home. Across town, a group of wealthy European eccentrics board in a one-time Buddhist temple, for reasons that remain obscure to their gossiping neighbors.
Painfully Honest Lars Martinson's graphic novel "Tonoharu" is the story of Daniel Wells, an American who goes to teach English for a year in the titular backwaters Japanese town. He is the only foreigner for miles, except for a group of temple-dwelling European ex-pats whom he meets only briefly. Daniel himself hovers just this side of "loveable loser," a sympathetic character with emphasis on the pathetic. He is alone, barely speaks Japanese, and his job requirements are--to him--largely opaque.
In the wrong hands this story might have felt pedestrian, but Martinson makes the characters who populate his slice of Japan thoroughly believable, such that by the end of the relatively short "Part One," I was eager to find out what quotidian struggle would engulf Daniel next.
In fact, what I admired again and again in Tonoharu was its truthfulness. The author/artist spent several years in Japan doing the same thing as his main character, and his depictions of the country will be instantly familiar to anyone who has spent time there. Although Martinson's backgrounds are never crowded, the details he chooses to include--from the look of a residential town to the Key Coffee sign that appears in one panel--are all utterly true to life. In the same way, his dialogue feels totally natural, and the joy of it (paradoxically) is that he has captured even the most embarrassing ex-pat tics with an intimacy only someone who's been there could have achieved. (In one scene, for instance, Daniel's slightly drunken predecessor says to him, "The Japanese are fine, but I dunno...it's like you can't have a normal conversation with them.") It is this attention to detail that elevates Japan from mere backdrop to true setting for the story.
The page layouts in the book are clean, almost always consisting of four equally-sized square panels on each page. There is a risk that such an arrangement might become dry after a hundred pages, but this is not an action comic; the deliberate layout almost seems to reflect the measured plod of Daniel's life, adding to the sense of his resignation.
Some things do bother me: Martinson's dialogue shows a marked aversion to commas (and periods). Moreover, word balloons, which are not very defined to begin with, are often run together so it's not always obvious which of two or more characters is speaking. Either or both of these traits may be deliberate; as far as I'm concerned they're quibbles, not deal breakers.
The book, however, may not appeal to readers without a particular interest in Japan. I was drawn to it because, having spent a year in that country as a student, I looked at almost every background or conversation and felt pangs of recognition. Failing the chance to get that out of the book, its charm as an exploration of life in Japan may be somewhat lost. About the idiosyncrasies of that life, though, few books are so honest.
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Interesting book Tonoharu is interesting because it gives valuable insight into what it's like to be an extreme outsider. It's also dead-on when addressing one's desperate desire to converse with someone attune to his cultural sensibilities.
The reader empathizes with Daniel because he is the town's lone American resident, his English teaching job description is annoyingly vague, and he strikes out with the American girl of a nearby town. On the other hand, he is somewhat of a downer - he struggles with a self-introduction assignment because his two main interests are sleeping and watching TV - so it's sort of hard to root for him.
Despite the "downerness," the book was enjoyable. The art was cool and there were some very funny parts; my favorite was Daniel's conversational slip-up when Constance talks about the Japanese youngsters groaping her. Creative and different, I enjoyed reading this book.
true parody of the JET Experience! Tonoharu is a beautiful, true to life graphic novel. I taught English in Fukuoka for three years with the JET Programme, and even though this book presents some extreme examples of what can happen, the most outrageous thing is how factual it actually is. Nuanced, detailed, funny and sad, it really captures the spirit of what it's like to be a foreigner in Japan, the high highs and the lonely lows. I definitely recommend it to all JET alums and all those interested in seeing Japan through Western eyes. If you like manga, it will give you a deeper appreciation of the culture. Those who haven't been to Japan but enjoyed the movie Lost in Translation will feel a similar sense of lyrical dislocation as they follow the adventures of Daniel in Tonoharu.
Offbeat and intriguing A serious minority - Daniel Wells is the only American in a rural Japanese Village, where he serves as an assistant junior high school teacher. "Tonoharu: Part One" is the start of his story as Daniel must deal with everything coming with his new job - language barriers, culture shock, it's a lonely existence. His only relief comes from the pursuit, although not effective, of an American girl who resides in a town not far from his own. His adventures often turn offbeat and intriguing, making "Tonoharu: Part One" highly recommended for community library graphic novel collections.
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