Tonoharu: Part One

Tonoharu #1

by Lars Martinson

Daniel Wells begins a new life as an assistant junior high school teacher in the rural Japanese village of Tonoharu. Isolated from those around him by cultural and language barriers, he leads a monastic existence, peppered only by his inept pursuit of the company of a fellow American who lives a couple towns over. But contrary to appearances, Dan isn't the only foreigner to call Tonoharu home. Across town, a group of wealthy European eccentrics are boarding in a one-time Buddhist temple, for reasons that remain obscure to their gossiping neighbors ...
Top Shelf is proud to distribute the Xeric Award-winning graphic novel from Lars Martinson!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Japan, Fiction, Travel, Manga, Graphic Novels Comics

128 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2008

Reviews

[Peter Derk · Rating 2 out of 5]

This really isn't a bad book. It just suffers from the fact that the main character is so painfully awkward. It's hard to read because you keep thinking, "Jesus, pull it together 5%. And stop being in love with a girl you met for four minutes who is obviously not interested in you."

I'm a big fan of books where the main character is unlikable. A jerk or an idiot or even painfully shy. But painfully shy is hard. As a reader, it's hard to feel compelled to keep reading when you're sort of yelling crappy high school football coach encouragements at the main character in your head.

Come on!

Pick it up!

Let's go!

I guess the character was so shy and weird, it's like that shy, weird friend you have who you feel bad for, but holy shit is that guy NOT a good time. You want to hang out with him, sort of, but when you are thinking something might be super fun, the last thing you do is invite the guy because you don't want him to expose the ways it's possible to have an awful time in what seems like a total blast.

[Abby · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a pretty little graphic novel based on the author's experiences teaching English in a small Japanese village. At times it got a little too "Lost In Translation" for me (those cold exotic Japanese people make me feel sooooo alienated and melancholy. Boo fucking hoo, at least TRY to learn some Japanese before you go live in Japan for a year, whitey!), but the illustration style is nice. Grey-green sepia tones and lots of shading lines. Pretty.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the story of an American teaching English in Japan. While the sense of disconnection and uncertainty is understandable, the book seems to be not about the disorientation of living in a foreign country, but about the character's own apathy and inability to connect with anyone. The story moves very slowly and very little actually happens. For someone who was willing to take the step of moving to another country alone, Dan is surprisingly unwilling to make any effort to interact with people, try new things, or even learn the language so he can work better with his colleagues and students. It takes a lot of effort to move to such a different place and not have interesting experiences and meet interesting people, but this character has the perfect mix of laziness and ineffectiveness to pull it off. There was a glimmer of hope near the end that he might start opening up and that the people he meets would help him live this experience better, but it was not to be.

It would probably have been better to combine this with the upcoming second volume so that there would be some sort of closure or feeling that the characters had changed or learned something. At least, I hope that something actually happens in the next book. I will brave vol. 2, but if it only involves endless panels of Dan standing around looking unsure of himself, I will be very disappointed.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely incredible! The art is sublime and mesmerizing, but what impressed me most is how it really encapsulates the experiences I had as an English teacher in Japan. At times I was aching with nostalgia from the too-familiar scenery; at other times I just wanted to reach through the pages and tell Dan, “me too!”

So, so good, for those who have taught in Japan, those who are dreaming of doing so, or those who want to see a glimpse of Japanese life beyond the shiny, high tech Tokyo fantasies.

[George Ilsley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Based on the author's own experiences as an assistant English teacher in the school system of the town of Tonoharu, this graphic novel starts off on a confusing note: a prologue about an English teacher in Japan contemplating whether to renew his contract.

Then we arrive at Part One, which is about an English teacher arriving to teach in Tonoharu, but this is a different guy. Is he the same guy we see departing in the prologue? Was there a point to the prologue?

Nothing much happens in this slim volume, and while I understand the experience can be alienating, one has to wonder at the teacher's own lack of resources, insight, and gumption. What are they doing there in the first place? Why Japan?

There is a side plot about a group of wealthy foreigners who live in a nearby temple, but this thread was not really pursued.

This is a slim, slight offering, and marked as Part One. There are 2 more volumes, but my curiosity has not been provoked.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is part one of four about a man who goes to Japan to teach English.

He's not really sympathetic at all. He's not very interesting, and his interests are limited. (The students ask him questions during his introductory lesson. He didn't come up with any hobbies, and when pressed by another westerner, the only things he could come up with were 'sleeping and watching tv.') He doesn't seem to appreciate the culture around him.

I could give him advice - get a tutor, branch out and meet people, don't hang out soley with people who know English, walk around on your own instead of hanging out at your lame apartment - of course you're bored.

Instead, I'll ask him a question: Why did you go there in the first place?

It was a decent enough read to make me want to pick up the next couple books. And it was fast. I'm wondering if he'll end up taking any of the advice I wasn't going to give him, or if he'll end up leaving sad, dejected and feeling like a loser.

[Chad Jordahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I often felt frustrated that the milquetoast main character didn't engage more. And yet his diffidence and blandness feel real. The art is impressive and a pleasure to look at. I look forward to the second volume.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely feels like part one of a larger story -- we barely get to know the main character, the setting, and the supporting cast in this short volume, but I'm intrigued to read more. I like how well "culture shock" is portrayed in this story, with our young protagonist experiencing everything from confusion to boredom to joy at his experiences in a small Japanese town. The main character's moping and time-wasting is frustrating to read about, but it fits his personality and concept: a young man who sought out a life-changing opportunity (teaching English in Japan), but doesn't quite know what to do with it. Thankfully, I picked up book two and book three at the library along with this one, and I'm looking forward to reading them soon.

[Olavia Kite · Rating 5 out of 5]

A socially inept guy in the land of the socially awkward. The art is beautiful, it does bring me back to my life in the Japanese countryside. I feel sorry for the main character. I’m heading straight into book two.

[Fiona · Rating 1 out of 5]

Main character is a mopey sadsack who doesn't have hobbies or a personality of his own.

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very one-dimensional. I am going to read the next part to see if it improves.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part one of a planned four part plus series. The illustrations are great, especially the lovely cover, endpapers and wonderfully detailed title page.

Tonoharu starts with a first-person account of an Assistant English Teacher, or AET, at a middle school in Japan mulling over whether to renew his contract for another school year. He reviews some of his experiences over the previous 8 months, wonders a bit about the AET who taught before him, and doesn't come to a decision.

The story continues as an imagining of the experiences of the previous teacher, who turns out to be kind of a schlub who is grossly underqualified for his job and barely interested in the world around him. The character is intensely boring and not very fun to read about, even with pictures. I pressed on, hoping for some transformation or resolution. Sadly, Tonoharu comprises only the first act for each of these characters and fails to make me clamor to find out what happens next.

[Bookalicious · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m quite baffled at all the negative reviews about Tōnoharu. For those of you internally screaming at him to make different choices—the bad social decisions are quintessential to Daniel’s character. Yes, he is painfully awkward and equally clueless on how to better his situation. And that’s what makes this story interesting. I for one really enjoyed seeing life through the lens of a socially inept character.

There is a fair portion of dialogue written in Japanese characters. I thought this was a clever device to help put the reader in Daniel’s shoes. Unless you can read Japanese text, you feel just as disparate.

The artwork is simple yet strong. You can tell Martinson has been honing his craft for some time.

I can’t wait to read the remaining volumes in this series. As in I’m about to go get them right after I’m finished typing this review.

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2009: What a whiner, if traveling the world is such a problem then just stay home!...... 2024 update: I guess I read this before and didn't remember the story at all. I have more sympathy now for misanthropes who move abroad hoping they will fit in more easily than their home country. The truth is, if you are uncomfortable in your own skin, then you will feel alien anywhere. I've worked with many people who are not suited to work in a foreign country and it is very sad to see they make the effort, but never adapt to the life.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only knew about this book because I saw a YouTube video in which Lars Martinson described how Tonoharu took him over a decade to make. The end product is some of my favorite art that I have ever seen. You can tell that he certainly did not slack off on the art, which captures the despair and loneliness of the protagonist completely as well as the rural Japanese setting. For some reason, the narrator's story hit me hard. Even if I had not seen the YouTube video, I would have guessed that the author had personal experience with the protagonist's job.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

The framework of this story is such that it begins with the main character leaving his job as an assistant English teacher in Japan and moving back home. Then we are instantly thrown into a flashback in which we start with his first day on the job. It’s an interesting way of getting the readers involved in the story, because we want to see how things progressed to the point where they ended up. Tonoharu then is a book that makes you want more, and I cannot wait for the next installment.

[Heather Clitheroe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Startlingly good - the art is lovely, and the level of detail in the drawings is exquisite. The story is lovely, though at times, Daniel Wells' awkwardness and shy nature made me want to squirm in sympathetic embarrassment. The sign of a well-written story, I think.

[Gabrielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good enough but I won't be seeking out part two. The unfortunate thing for this graphic novel is that my friend wrote a short story on basically the same thing and I loved that so much and it was so insightful and funny that this seems a bit dull in comparison. Nice illustrations though.

[Holly Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved the drawings and concept but wanted more story and more tension.

[Kiri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm... I think the message here is that if you are adrift and lack purpose or interests in your life, then that emptiness will follow you no matter where you go. This is the story of a young American, Dan, who goes to Japan to serve as an Assistant English Teacher. Naturally he feels out of place at first, but then he just sort of stays there. He makes no connections to other people and seems to have no ability (or no interest?) in picking up Japanese. He can't find anything interesting to say about himself in his "self introduction" to the students. He fumbles around trying to connect to the one other English-speaker nearby and and fails to perceive her lack of of interest in him. Since this is just "part one", maybe we get to observe some growth in later parts. But Dan's story is wrapped inside the story of his successor, so we already know that Dan won't last more than his first year, and he seems just as dismal at the end as at the beginning. Argh!

Dan falls in with some hideously offensive "Europeans" when attending one of their parties, apparently his only effort to do anything social. I hope that doesn't land him in more trouble (or more awkwardness)!

I enjoyed the art and the bits of Japan and Japanese culture we get to see in this graphic novel. It's also pretty clever how a sprinkling of the dialogue is written in Japanese, without translation. If you don't read Japanese, this really transports you into Dan's experience of people saying things all around you and laughing together and you feeling left out. If you do read Japanese, it's probably marvelous on another level. I can read the basic kana, but not the kanji, so I get a little whiff of what's going on (e.g., I understood when a teacher said "Welcome, everyone!" but not the rest of what was said).

I hope Dan pulls himself together and starts getting something out of existence, no matter what country he's in!

[Michael Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

TODO full review:
+ I bumped into this while researching my way into drawing graphic novels. Turns out Lars Martinson is an American gone to study calligraphy in Japan, who shared with the world the process of creating Tōnoharu - - 13 years of toil and lesson-learning. Also turns out the 13 years were primarily spend drawing over 200 unique locations and local events, each carefully researched. I don't have to say I got very interested in his and this story.

+ Tōnoharu is a symmetric dual-story of belated coming-of-age with biographical sprinkles. There are two stories, the short one, in the present, of Dan's Successor (named Dan Marshall, which we find out only in Appendix B of Part Three - this spoiler has no impact on the story) and the long one, in the past, of Daniel Wells. Both are English teachers taking a job in the high school of the provincial town of Tōnoharu. Present-Dan is positive and energetic, past-Dan is the opposite; they both get tested by the cold, repressed, foreign culture they encounter in their corner of Japan.

+ The first installment of the story is largely focused on past-Dan's first impressions of Tōnoharu, with much focus on the loneliness induced by a lack of foreigners and especially Americans. (Trivia: there exists in Tōnoharu a family of Romanians, but past-Dan never seeks them out. Of course.)

[Daniel Clausen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure, this book was written and illustrated by my colleague. In fuller disclosure, I read the epilogue of this book, where Mr. Martinson describes taking nearly a decade to finish this book. As someone who has spent about eight years writing a novel that I thought would only take about four or five years, I can completely empathize with the pain and process ingrained in this work.

The story of Tonoharu is one I can relate to very viscerally: coming to Japan, alone, in the early 2000s; pre-smartphone; struggling with the language barrier; struggling to make human connections; being in your early 20s and trying to find yourself.

The aspect that drives these themes home throughout the book is the quiet protagonist, Dan, whose own introversion deepens the dramas of the book. Because Dan is deeply introverted, we only discover hints of his character little by little, through long walks and awkward interactions. Thus, Dan's loneliness is our loneliness.

The two-color illustrations work perfectly to depict Dan's story, which is an inner one that resonates with the backdrop of the story—Tonoharu. Tonoharu is a small town where Dan is one of only a few foreign residents. When place is done well, it becomes character; and Tonoharu, as Dan's shadow, works as a great foil to Dan. Dan struggles to make meaningful human connections in a place that is itself not very connected.

By the end of Part One, we are left with a dilemma—we want to know more about how Dan gets to his final year in Japan and what his final decision will be. Does he stay or does he leave? Though I haven't read Part Two or Part Three yet, I will say that I love the slow burn aspect of the book. I would gladly spend two more volumes following Dan as he grapples with his lonely shadow.

[Ceecee Su · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a book series that took over 13 years in its entirety to finish, the plot was very underwhelming but...realistic... The main character went to teach English in a small Japanese village lived a quite lonely and sleepy life. He wasn't that interesting to begin with and claimed that his only hobbies were sleeping and watching TV ( which he had to lie to students that it's actually skydiving to make himself look more interesting). Maybe it was difficult to connect with the Japanese because of his language barrier, but it didn't seem like he was trying to learn the language either. His life might be quite boring but at the same time kind of funny. This would've hit home for people who have went abroad by themselves, and realized that what they have imagined was not as exciting as it seemed. You feel somewhat lost, disconnected, confused, and wonders if you have made the right choice after seeing other people in your position leaving.

The art was ok... but appropriate. There were definitely a lot of attentions to details which probably prolonged the completion of this comic.

[briz · Rating 2 out of 5]

A brief, spare comix about some young people doing the Japanese English teacher program (where you spend a year or two in Japan teaching English in schools). I loved the art, and really appreciated the change in perspective - from the Guy That Arrived This Year, to (zooming back) the Guy That Just Left. That made me do a double-take, and I appreciated it. Interesting storytelling!

But, as others have noted, the guy we spend a lot of time with (the Guy That Just Left) is really a gratingly passive sad sack. The comix feels both sympathetic and critical of his behavior - I mean, he's just a shy kid, basically, fresh out of college and paralyzed by culture shock - but it does wear on you, the reader. He is juxtaposed against the fellow English teacher girl from the neighboring town, who seems to be a social butterfly. I kinda just wanted to shake him. But, then again, that can happen when you're an expat: you don't get over the culture shock hump, but just kinda wallow in alienation and loneliness.

[Mars Dorian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable collection of page-sized Yonkamas (four panel Japanese-style cartoons) about an American language teacher and his "adventures" in a small Japanese town.

I put adventures in air quotes because the protagonist (the author himself) is shy, boring and devoid of personality, standing around for most of the book, suffering from a social awkwardness.

It makes sense that the creator of the story IS the main protagonist, as no experienced storyteller would fabricate such a lukewarm towel of a human being.

I mean, the guy is...

failing to speak Japanese
failing to maintain meaningful conversation with locals
failing at dating with fellow westerners
failing to do anything interesting in his spare time

And yet, Tonoharu isn't failing to entertain. It's an enjoyable culture clash story with where the creator mixes American and Japanese cartoon styles with simple characters and detailed backgrounds.

The graphic novel is printed in a glossy, yellowed paper and comes in a handy trade book format.

[Sara Ghotb · Rating 2 out of 5]

I must say, Tonoharu left me feeling quite frustrated and bored. The story revolves around a protagonist who is exceptionally negative and difficult to connect with. Despite being in Japan for a job, he struggles to communicate with anyone and shows little interest in learning the language. His inability to form meaningful relationships, coupled with his constant negativity, makes it hard to empathize with his character.
The storyline feels directionless, as it's never quite clear what the protagonist is seeking or hoping to achieve. This lack of clarity adds to the overall sense of frustration while reading.
The artwork is another point of contention for me. It is simple and monotone, with very little happening visually to capture the reader's interest. The illustrations lack the dynamic and engaging qualities that one might expect from a graphic novel.
The combination of an unlikable main character, a vague storyline, and lackluster artwork made for a rather dull reading experience.

[Beck Frost · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather bleak, but truthful to the point which is that in the absence of steady communication, how valued is each piece of communication then becomes to someone even if they never really communicated with others before. But also very painful when that communication value is not shared on both sides or assumed that everyone is fine. The cultural differences with one teacher not going out for fear of bumping into students being "embarrasing." The time period for the setting according to the afterward was about 2003 so this becomes a snapshot in time as well. I am sure that if set in 2016, there would have been more resources such as online forums, cell phones, meet up groups, and the every present Youtube with the channel "Abroad in Japan" as a resource and humor example.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book feels stale,spinning in circles and never truly progressing as a story. Almost as if ur following ur uneventful life where ur really not doing much besides eating some food, contemplating about life and eating some more food. But in a way, it has a real vibe to it where nothing seems forced and you really get a feel for the type of life this guy has with his meandering, almost insignificant problems I can actually relate to.

In a nutshell, readers were tested to stare at paper in which nothing happened.

But in all honesty, it’s not unreadable, just think of it as following the life of that half-depressed science teacher in which u were always so curious about what he really does besides teaching.

[Bopsterjazz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art in this book it great. However, the story is just depressing. I understand being a foreigner in another country and feeling like a fish out of water, but this main character just doesn’t seem to want to adapt to the culture. He’s not really trying and just kind of whines or focuses on other people whining. I really hope the next two volumes pick up because this was just lacking a lot for me.

But the art style is beautiful, which is the only reason I snagged this series and I’m excited to see more of it.

[Martina Sosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure as to how to feel. I liked the book, but I was definitely expecting more. I feel like I finished it in five minutes. However, the art style is fantastic and you can tell incredible effort came in place. I will also add that this left a weird sensation in me, some sort of lingering that made me somehow still care for the characters even with the few interactions they have. There are also some great details that I won’t mention as to not to spoil anything.
Even though I hope volume two improves a bunch, I will still read it.