This research attempts to analyze qualitatively (and partly quantitatively) how comic strips of the three major national newspapers in Japan, Mainichi, Yomiuri, and Asahi, both in morning and in evening editions, characterized Donald Trump during the pre-inauguration year and first half of his primary term, from 2016 to 2018.
The titles of the comics examined are as follows: Mainichi’s “Asatte Kun”(Mr. Day-after-Tomorrow), “Sakurada Desu!”(Hi, we are the Sakuradas!) and “Uchi no Baai ha”(In Case of our Family), Yomiuri’s “Kobo Chan”(Kobo, the Li’l Rascal) and “Office Kenta”(Kenta, the Office Dog), and Asahi’s “Nono Chan”(Little Nono) and “Chikyu Boei Ke no Hitobito”(The Earth-Saver Family).
From those comic strips, this study picked up all pieces representing Donald Trump whether verbally or visually. For comparison, those depicting Barack Obama are analyzed in the same manner.
The quantitative analysis has found that comic strips of Trump far outnumbered those of Obama. While Obama counted 5 during the pre-inauguration year and first half of his primary term (2008–10), Trump counted 45 during the same time period (2016–18). Trump even outnumbered Obama’s all-time total of 30 from the pre-inauguration year to the end of his second term (2008–16). As the qualitative analysis indicates, Trump’s remarkable prominence can be attributed to keen public interest due to his excessively negative images as well as his potentially immense impact on Japan and the whole world.
The qualitative analysis in the pre-inauguration year (2016) has found that offensiveness, anxiety, and fear are the most common factors of Trump’s characterization in newspaper comic strips. Both verbally and visually, he is represented as a violent and intimidating person not competent for the highest political leader of one of the most powerful nations in the world. Meanwhile, positive or favorable depiction was nonexistent. Such excessively negative portrayal makes a stark contrast with that of Obama who tended to be described as a hopeful, able, and successful figure.
Offensiveness, anxiety, and fear emerged even more conspicuously after inauguration (2017–18). As Trump began to exert political power as the President, comic strips came to characterize him more as a troublesome person causing actual harm to Japan and the rest of the world. Some pieces even showed such reactionary attitudes as helplessness, defeatism, and escapism. The gap between Trump and Obama widened further.
This research concludes that the lopsidedly negative characterization of Trump by Japanese newspaper comic strips exemplifies a form of journalism’s watchdog function. It is a primary role of mass media to inform and alarm the general public when social anxiety and fear arise as an offensive person takes power. Moreover, Japanese newspaper comic strips are unique in that they saw Trump from a rather detached and objective standpoint while the conflict between Trump and major American domestic media such as CNN kept heating up. They looked at Trump from a different perspective from Japanese national media, too, and reflected the general public’s common perception of Trump as reported by the press.
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