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...
- Character Development: Ueda starts as the somewhat goofy little employee, but he learns and seems to have grown some discipline at the end.
- Foil: Tsugawa and Kudo. Tsugawa is your typical ruthless manager, Kudo is the social guy who thinks about the employees.
- Gorgeous Gaijin: A stripper in a cowgirl costume.
- I Want Grandkids: Ueda's mom comments that Miss Amamiya has the right shape to get many children, hint hint.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Ueda has eight, and seven of them are sisters.
- 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.
- Visual Pun: When Ueda admits he likes America, she comments: "He must be an alien." In this panel, he is drawn as The Alien.
