Turning Japanese: Expanded Edition: Expanded Edition

By MariNaomi

Mari, a mixed-race Japanese American, has for many years felt disconnected from the culture of her mother. Immersed in the pan-asian diaspora of San Jose, Mari searches for cultural and romantic connections. It doesn't take long for Mari to find new loves, and a new job—at a hostess bar for Japanese expats, in a bid to learn the Japanese language and culture.
Turning Japanese: Expanded Edition includes all new story pages that bring fresh insight and a new resolution to this classic of comics memoir for our times.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oni Press
• Release date: Jun 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9781637151143

MariNaomi

MariNaomi (they/them) is the award-winning author and illustrator of Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Resume, Ages 0 to 22 (Harper Perennial, 2011), Dragon’s Breath and Other True Stories (2dcloud/Uncivilized Books, 2014), Turning Japanese (2dcloud, 2016; Extended edition Oni Press, 2023), I Thought YOU Hated ME (Retrofit Comics, 2016), the Life on Earth trilogy (Graphic Universe, 2018-2020), Dirty Produce (Workman Publishing, 2021), and I Thought You Loved Me (Fieldmouse Press, 2023). Their work has appeared in nearly 100 print publications and has been featured on websites such as The New Yorker’s Daily Shouts, The Washington Post, LA Times, The Rumpus, LA Review of Books, Midnight Breakfast, SF Examiner, and BuzzFeed. Their comics have been translated into French (Devenir Japonaise, Editions IMHO, 2021), German, and Russian. MariNaomi’s comics and paintings have been featured in the Smithsonian, the de Young Museum, the Cartoon Art Museum, the Asian Art Museum, and the Japanese American National Museum. In 2011 and 2018, Mari toured with the literary roadshow Sister Spit. They are the founder and administrator of the Cartoonists of Color Database, the Queer Cartoonists Database, and the Disabled Cartoonists Database. They have taught classes for the California College of the Arts Comics MFA program, and was a guest editor for PEN Illustrated. They were cohost of the Ask Bi Grlz podcast with author Myriam Gurba. MariNaomi lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with their partner and a menagerie of beloved rescue animals.

Book preview

Reviews for Turning Japanese

[rekki-281232 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was an okay graphic memoir. I was a little disappointed because I expected to get a little more culture and story but what I got was an overview of her trip to Japan. There was a bit of interesting culture surrounding hostess bars and how American and Japanese morals differ, but not enough to merit a high rating in my opinion.