The Walking Man

1 rating: 5.0

The Walking Man, a Manga By Jiro Taniguchi

Jiro Taniguchi (谷口ジロー Taniguchi Jirō) is a Japanese manga artist, born 14 August 1947 in Tottori Prefecture, Japan.He began to work as assistant of the late mangaka Kyota Ishikawa. … see full wiki

Tags: Japan, Manga, The Walking Man, Jiro Taniguchi

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The Walking Man - A Celebration of the Ordinary.

Jun 24, 2009

by ornleifs
posted in Go Japan

Rating:

The Manga "The Walking Man" by Jiro Taniguchi is an unusual Manga to say the least.

There is no Story as such, no action or romance, no thrills or excitement, no sex and violence, no fast cars, aliens or robots or the usual Boys-Toys that are so familiar to every reader of Japanese Manga.

So whats it about ?

A man takes a walk..... that´s it !

Now how can that be Fun to read ?? A man takes a walk !!!

Yep, a man takes a walk. He lives in a Japanese suburb in a nice house with a garden, has a wive and a dog and he goes for a walk with his dog, goes to the bakery and buys a cake, climbs a tree, takes a swim, watches the people around him, gets cought in the rain and so on.

In fact just ordinary every day activities that are almost always excluded from stories.

It´s all about Being, and not Doing, and draws heavily from Zen and Taoistic philosopy that the essence of mans live is To Be and not To Do.

A famous Taoistic saying is "the usufullnes of uselessness".

Of course what makest this Manga Such a Treasure is the fabulous talent of Jiro Taniguchi, he is a superb artist and his drawings are such a visual treat, he manages to tell interesting stories with hardly any text but simply through pictures. There is so much feeling and atmosphere here, you really get a feel for the heat of a Japanese summers day and the Manga is just infused with a calm meditative flow, simply Beautiful.

This is Graphic Story telling at it´s Best and I can Highly recommend it.

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cpw1952 October 11, 2010

Now that sounds interesting. Calming in a way. Nice review.

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Sharrie April 15, 2010

The joy of being... Yes, this I can definitely associate with. As with zen. It's funny, I've been to Japan countless times and I have never really got into manga! But I'll definitely check this one out soon! Thanks for your recommendation & contribution to the Go Japan community!

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