Anime-loving cartoonist from Sweden shares the joys of life in Tokyo

This is a sponsored story created and edited exclusively by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Tokyo updates Website.

Asa Ekstrom is a Swedish cartoonist whose works are very popular in Japan. Manga and anime are two of Japan’s most important industries, but while many foreigners read manga written by Japanese artists, it is rare to find a foreign manga artist whose works are widely read in Japan. Her five-volume manga series, Nordic Girl Asa Discovers the Mysteries of Japan, humorously depicts the unique aspects of Japan that foreigners notice from the perspective of a young foreign woman. Asa realized her dream of living in Japan when she moved to Tokyo. We asked her about the charms of different parts of the city.

A city like a huge amusement park

Asa became fascinated with Japanese pop culture when she watched the Japanese anime “Sailor Moon” as a teenager. She read every single Japanese manga she could find that was translated into Swedish, and her fashion style at the time was influenced by Japanese anime.

She first visited Japan 20 years ago at the age of 19. Her first impression of Tokyo was that it was “like an amusement park,” with glittering neon signs everywhere. The streets were full of people and large enough for several European cities. Coming from a country full of forests, she was surprised by the sheer size of Tokyo.

She also learned that Tokyo is not only a city of skyscrapers, but also has many traditional places such as shrines. “The appeal of Tokyo lies in the contrast between old and new culture,” says Asa. The people she met were also surprisingly friendly towards foreigners. When she visited the country for the third time, she thought, “I love Japan and will move there no matter what,” and her heart was determined.

Incorporating the difficulties of life in Japan

Asa found a place to live in Asagaya, Suginami City, just west of central Tokyo, and began her life in Japan. Her dream of becoming a manga artist came true when she showed her work to a publisher at their booth Doujinshi (self-published manga and novels) Convention.

Although some of her roommates were foreigners, many were locals and conversations were conducted primarily in Japanese. She remembers those days fondly: “At first I knew very little Japanese, so I just pretended to understand and laughed. But when I started speaking broken Japanese, my roommates liked it and said, ‘Kawaii (Cute)!’ My Japanese became so popular that it was called “Asa-nese” and they started imitating me.”

As her Japanese gradually improved, Asagaya became her home in Tokyo. Nearby there were lush green spaces such as Wadabori Park, which stretches along the Zenpukuji River. She often jogged on the riverside path, which offers a wonderful view of the many blooming cherry trees in spring.

If you take the Chuo Line train from Asagaya, you will soon reach Nakano, where the Nakano Broadway shopping complex is located. It houses shops selling anime figurines and other collectibles and is referred to as a “holy land” by pop culture fans. Asa also likes the non-anime-related shops in the basement, such as the ice cream parlor that serves about ten flavors of soft serve ice cream in a cone shape, and a recycled kimono shop.

“In the evening I like to go to a restaurant with outdoor seating to enjoy beer, sake and food. When alcohol is involved, the language barrier disappears and even tourists can get to know the locals,” says Åsa. Along the Chuo Line you’ll find unpretentious eateries with outdoor seating Yokocho (alleyways with bars and restaurants) under elevated train tracks and around train stations. Ebisu Station on the Yamanote Line is home to many cutting-edge IT companies, but there is also Ebisu Yokocho near the station, highlighting one of Tokyo’s paradoxes.

Asa often visits the places where her favorite manga are set. Of the two iconic radio towers in Tokyo, Tokyo Skytree is newer and taller, but her favorite is Tokyo Tower, depicted in CLAMP’s Manga X. As an anime fan, Asa finds joy in the smallest details of everyday life in Tokyo. Go to a supermarket and you will find it Onigiri (rice balls), a unique Japanese fast food featured in the anime. When she first saw onigiri, it really reminded of a scene in Sailor Moon where the characters were eating them, so the onigiri was quite a discovery for her.

Life in a foreign country can sometimes be difficult. Because she couldn’t read the Japanese on the onigiri packaging, she had no idea what was inside until she ate it, and she couldn’t figure out how to open the rice ball without tearing the seaweed packaging. However, when she later adapted these experiences into a manga, Asa’s love for Japan and her enthusiasm for another culture were endearing despite its difficulties.

Deeply moved by the original drawing exhibition “Nana”.

As a manga artist, one of Asa’s main attractions in Tokyo is that there are so many exhibitions to visit. “Many exhibitions start in Tokyo and some of them then travel to other parts of the country,” she says. Her go-to is the Mori Arts Center Gallery in Roppongi Hills, where many manga and anime exhibitions take place, but there are so many museums and galleries in Tokyo that she always finds exhibitions she wants to visit.

Asa enjoys exhibitions of original drawings and was deeply touched by an exhibition in 2022. “I went to this (Yazawa Ai) exhibition of original drawings of my favorite manga “Nana”. I was so touched that I thought, ‘Maybe I came to Tokyo just to see this’ and my heart screamed, ‘Tokyo is the best!’”

“In Sweden we don’t have the opportunity to see original Japanese manga drawings at all. For me as a fan it’s exciting, and as a manga artist there’s a lot of learning material. There are details you can’t see.” Like the intensity of the lines, and sometimes you see things that have been erased.

Asa has two children with her Japanese partner and raises them while traveling back and forth between Japan and Sweden. Through her experiences, she realized that Japan’s idea of ​​love and marriage is very different from that of her own country, and this also became the theme of her manga. Now she is conducting a study to compare child-rearing in the two countries. For example, in Japan the birth of a child is strongly linked to marriage, while in Sweden many children are born out of wedlock.

Her manga compares details of daily life from different cultures, is easy to read for everyone and at some point while reading and laughing you subconsciously learn something about another culture. Hopefully we can read her childcare-themed manga soon.

Translation by Toshio Endo