Chinese Manga Store Owners
 
 
laundries and various small stores based on culture and ethnic background. One of the most interesting stores that arose in the Chinese communities in New York is Manga stores. Manga is the Japanese word for comics and printed cartoons; it generally symbolizes a style in comics that are commonly seen in Japan, Korea and China. It also represents a multi-billion dollar global market as of 2007. While Marvel’s superheroes continue to hold traditional American comic buyers’ interests, manga is quickly gaining popularity with American teenagers. While American comics that have superheroes who appeal to boys, manga in the U.S. are often drawn by female artists and appeal to women of all ages. The cultural background of manga is very important because Asian societies have been more lenient towards manga than other countries. In the US, faced with strict regulations, comics lost freedom of expression in their growth period. Manga, on the other hand, developed into different genres by working against external pressures. More than forty newspapers now have manga on their funny pages; many magazines for girls often have highlights for manga artists. Manga is definitely becoming a dominant source of paper entertainment for the teens and youth all around the world. Background and History Nearly twelve million immigrants arrived in the United States between 1870 and 1900 after the Civil War. The majority of the immigrants came from Germany, Ireland, and England, but a relatively large group of Chinese immigrated to the United States during the Gold rush. While most of the immigrants came to settle in the States, many tried to save up as much money as they can and return home with all their savings. The majority of Chinese immigrants were single men who worked for a short period of time and returned home, but more and more Chinese people came and started their own businesses such as restaurants,
 
 
No one can say for sure when the first manga came into New York. But manga has been a very important part of Chinese teens for more than 3 decades. In China, manga takes up to 80% of the comic book industry; most Chinese youths grew up with manga and manga has definitely become part of their culture. It’s quite possible that the first manga store in New York was established by Chinese immigrants who imported translated manga from China and set up rental stores in the beginning. The oldest manga store in Chinatown is the Tai Model Club that was founded in 1985. The store carries thousands of manga translated into Chinese as well as some manga in English. The store also has many DVDs of Japanese animation (anime) subtitled in Chinese, as well as toys and models of manga/anime characters. These stores usually have a huge stock of manga for rent, because it’s quite costly to buy every volume of a manga series. Since the main consumers are Chinese teens and youths, rentals offer a much more acceptable price.
 
Interviews Meng Lan and her son, Jason Lan, the owner of the biggest manga chain store in Flushing generously spared me a few hours of their time for my interview on March 3, 2007. Meng Lan came to the States with her husband and her only son, James in 1989. Her family and she came to New York to search for a better quality of life; they filed political protection and were granted visa to come to the States after failing to obtain a visa two times. When they first arrived in the States, things were rough and Meng Lan had to work as a seamstress in one of the garment factories in the city. With her minimum wage and long work hours, she barely had time to take care of Jason. Jason witnessed the hardship that his mother had to go through and fully understood that he had to go to college so that his mother’s hard work would not go to waste. He went to the New York State University of Stony Brook and majored in business and finance. As he spent his days in college, he felt that he could already be investing on his own business with the little resources he had. “I always worked part time jobs since high school… The amount of money that my mother made alone could not sustain the family very well, so I did what I could to help. Everything needed money and it was hard to believe that the world did not run on money alone.” Jason managed to save up eighteen thousand dollars during his high school career and he understood that he could utilize his capitals and invest them early so that the monetary value on his resources did not degenerate as time passes. “Money is only pieces of paper, when you save money, the money you have is constantly degenerating in value. I felt that I had to invest in something fast, so an idea that I’ve tried to test out sprang to life!” Jason reasoned that he always loved to read manga since he was a small kid. When he came to New York, he was very disappointed in the comic book industry because manga haven’t really been introduced to the States yet. But as the years went by, the US comics industry became more aware of the growing market of manga, therefore, massive number of manga titles were imported and translated. With a huge potential reader pool, Jason saw it as the perfect opportunity for him to venture into his own business. “I realized that the manga being sold here are generally $10 each, if I import manga in Chinese, each book would cost me roughly $1, the shipping fees and taxes will add another dollar to each volume but I can still sell them for $3-$5 each and make a reasonable profit.” Jason’s manga business grew a lot bigger as of today, he now has a constant 5% increase in sales every year and he expanded and reconstructed his store three times. He also upgraded the size of the rental store twice so that his mother can leisurely watch new movies and dramas at the store as well as taking care of the rental business. Three new manga stores came to existence in Flushing after Jason, and none of them could compete with Jason because most of the manga readers in Flushing already established bonds and formed a friendship with Jason so they are more hesitant to purchase the same goods at another store. Prices became more competitive, but Jason’s good business mindset and charming charisma helps him to prevail.
 
 
Policy Recommendation Aside from their success and accomplishment, the local manga stores do face problems as they develop and expand into new neighborhoods. Since most of the storeowners and workers are entrepreneurs in the business, there are close to none employment regulation and rarely any written documentations or records on employees. Sexism in employment also exists because female college students dominate the workforce. As for the Flushing area, for every 4 female manga store employee, there is only 1 male employee. The employees ask for cash in salary payment because most of the workers in these stores are college students who try to avoid taxes, and the employers are more than happy to do so because they sometimes do not need to pay the minimum wage and they do not need to worry about all the labor rights for their workers. Aside from employment issues, the development of these stores are also flawed because with the growth of popularity for manga, the merchandises in the stores are extremely limited because they are only accessible to those who have high level of reading skill in Chinese. Many of the local residents complain that there are manga stores around them, but they cannot enjoy their presence due to the language barrier.
 
The problem of lacking employment regulation can be dealt with by installing a set of rules for employment. The storeowners should strictly follow the Human Rights and Labor Policy: the owners should set the maximum work hours of daily labor according to local laws instead of following the store opening/closing time (ex. 10am-11pm). Hire more than one worker for each duty of the store so that there are shifts, which allow for more variable schedules and free time such as lunch breaks and restroom breaks. The rules and regulations can be set up one by one on a graduate scale. Slowly but steadily, a set of working rules for the manga stores should be installed and followed as the businesses grow. The storeowners should immediately stop the discrimination in selecting their employees based on gender. Women should not be favored in these stores. The only reason for the owners to choose women over men is because most of the customers are male high school /college students, so the employers think that it may be less likely for these young customers to have minor conflicts or arguments with a female worker at the store than with a male worker. The storeowners choosing female workers over male workers is not justified by any technical advantages or skill requirements, therefore, they should not discriminate based on gender. Another way to approach the problem is to evenly divide the work amongst the male and female workers. The storeowners should hire equal amount of male and female workers and divide the tasks in a way so that the workers of both genders have an advantage of certain sort. The Female workers can stay at the counter, while the male workers can do more on organizing and restocking. As manga stores become one of the newest and more intriguing addition to the Flushing Chinese community, many problems have surfaced. Workplace issues can be addressed by slowly implementing regulations with solid legal backings; then, by following and practicing these rules, the manga stores will eventually have a functional employment structure. With that, the discrimination will surely diminish. If the manga stores introduce more goods that do not require the language skills, the idea of these popular stores will definitely be more accepted within the community. More stores of the kind will arise slowly in the future and provide a healthy competitive market for the community.