MANGA: Okinawa Chapter 9 - Tolerated Cultivation

Continuing Mabui, by Susumu Higa

Hi everyone, welcome back to Susumu Higa’s Okinawa, with the second chapter of Mabui, “Tolerated Cultivation.” Sorry we’re a few days late on this one, we hope you enjoy it!

But first, a little bit of housekeeping.

#1: This Friday’s manga chapter will be our next bonus manga, and for the first time, we’re proud to offer an ORIGINAL MANGA! We’ve commissioned a comics Q&A with gay manga creator Kazuhide Ichikawa, about making gay manga, making doujinshi in Japan, and much more. Here’s a sneak peak:

It’s gonna be a lot of fun!

#2: This week’s episode of the Mangasplaining Podcast, Episode 59: Ping Pong, by Taiyo Matsumoto, will also go live Wednesday morning instead of Tuesday. We’ll be back to normal by next week though.

#3: We’re a bit overwhelmed with our daily lives right now, so our Sunday bonus articles are also running a bit behind. You can look forward to the second part of Deb’s food article soon!

Thanks!

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Okinawa Chapter Nine: Mabui - Tolerated Cultivation
By Susumu Higa

Two translation notes for this week’s chapter:

So in that first panel, mama-san (as she’s come to be known later this chapter) is talking to her husband, and calling him “Dad.” It’s pretty common in Japanese society that, once a married couple has children, they refer to each other as “Mom” and “Dad,” rather than by their names. We actually did adjust this in a previous chapter in order to smooth out the translation a little bit, but because it’s more integral to this chapter, we left these two characters referring to each other as “Dad” and “Mom.”

Secondly:

This is Goya, also known as “bitter melon.” It really earned that name, it’s very bitter! It’s one of the staple-crops of Okinawa (I tried it for the first time there) and it’s a pretty divisive vegetable! It’s most often added to stir-fried dishes, including Okinawan chanparu, which generally consists of tofu, egg, bean sprouts, and goya, along with a meat protein (sometimes even Spam). The idea is that cooking it with other seasonings and veggies can lessen some of its more bitter qualities… but it still remains intensely bitter, maybe more so than unsweetened cocoa powder. I think goya is pretty good and very fresh tasting but I know many folks who really dislike it. Goya is mentioned almost reverently this chapter, and especially within Japan, has become emblematic of Okinawa and its food culture. If you get a chance, you should definitely try it at least once.

Okay, now on to the actual manga! PDFs and CBZs at the end for paid readers.

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