Reimagining Aesthetics and Labor in the Japanese Manga Industry: A Case Study of Arts-Based Research at Artist Village Aso 096k

This study examines how hand-drawn comics became a site of critical and creative resistance during fieldwork at Artist Village Aso 096k in rural Japan. The international artists in residence initially came to learn about the professional environment of the Japanese manga (comics) industry and to publish original works. However, the corporate-led system revealed barriers that constrained their early careers. In response, I employed Arts-Based Research (ABR) to invite the artists to create comics by hand, in contrast to the digital tools central to their daily workflow. This shift from digital to material practice foregrounded the affective and epistemological potentials of slowness, irrevocability, and embodied storytelling. The analog process functioned not only as an introspective tool for artists but also as a form of care that resisted the restrictive logic of Japan’s immigration policy. I argue that reflective drawing, as a situated and material practice, provides new ways of navigating social precarity. By centering comics as a research method, this study calls for renewed attention to the ethics and politics of artistic labor—particularly for international artists whose social and economic stability is increasingly threatened by xenophobic discourse.