Japan Inc
Japan Inc aka Manga Nihon Keizai Nyumon (an introduction to the Japanese economy) is a manga by Shotaro Ishinomori (written 1986 to 1988). It's a non-fiction manga about the Japanese economy (also covering economics in general), mostly seen from the POV of several employees of the car firm Toyosan: The managers Tsugawa and Kudo, their boss Akiyama, their female coworker Miss Amamiya, and lower-rank guy Ueda. Originally serialized in the upscale business paper "Nippon Keizai Shinbun", the manga was published as an economics textbook by the University of California.
Examples:
- An Aesop: Capitalism is good.
- Bland Name Product: The car firms Toyosan, Mitsutomo, Chrysky; the US TV station CBN...
- Bottle Fairy: Tsugawa's wife.
- Butt Monkey: Ueda
- Useful Notes/Capitalism: Provides several of them as footnotes.
- Character Development: Ueda starts as the somewhat goofy little employee, but he learns and seems to have grown some discipline at the end.
- Eagle Land
- Foil: Tsugawa and Kudo. Tsugawa is your typical ruthless manager, Kudo is the social guy who thinks about the employees.
- Foreign Fanservice: A stripper in a cowgirl costume.
- Happily Married: Kudo.
- I Want Grandkids: Ueda's mom comments that Miss Amamiya has the right shape to get many children, hint hint.
- Jerkass: Tsugawa
- The Mafia
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Ueda has eight, and seven of them are sisters.
- Miniature Senior Citizens: Ueda's mother.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Ueda
- Private Detective: Finds out that a big union boss is customer in an S&M club.
- Ronald Reagan
- Salaryman: The main characters
- The Series: There's an anime made in 1987/88 (25 episodes of 25 minutes each). You can also find it on YouTube (at least, parts of it).
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Ueda has to correct his mother's impression that Miss Amamiya is this.
- Tsundere: Miss Amamiya has some of it.
- Visual Pun: When Ueda admits he likes America, she comments: "He must be an alien." In this panel, he is drawn as The Alien.
- When You Coming Home Dad: Tsugawa
- Your Cheating Heart: Tsugawa has an affair with an Italian woman - and Kudo knows.