Jerry Serafin

Dr. Schwartz
5/26/15
Anthropology of Monsters
Xenophobia and Fear in Japan Displayed by JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Japan is known for its technology, media, and its long history of monsters it has created.
Among the media that Japan has created lies the influence of western societies, which were not
within Japanese culture due to Japanese xenophobia, which encompasses Japanese treatment of
minorities within the country as well as the closing of its borders to all nations but the Dutch.
This xenophobia was easily to translate into media when a new monster was introduced from
western societies, the vampire, specifically DIO from JoJo no Kimy na Bken. Dio is a
culmination of Japanese fear of other cultures, as well as perhaps a linking point through the
xenophobia he represents. From pre-war xenophobia to modern Japanese classrooms Dio is, as
any good monster is, unrelenting, persistent and he represents something that is hard to kill, and
just won't die simply.
The vampire within Japanese culture is simply put, one that was brought over from
western culture. While we can see in Bunson or Theresa Bane's vampire encyclopedia's several
Japanese mythological undead, the vampire more commonly known today was absent from
Japanese culture. After World War II had ended the United States and Japan become allies while
US troops occupied Japan and legislature was created for the US to aid Japan in its restoration.
During the post war years the two nations traded heavily and the two cultures couldn't help but
become intertwined. One way this is displayed is through the comics of the east or manga.
While there was art that accompanied stories in Japanese culture previously, manga is seen as the
first sequential art produced, meaning that the drawings go along with a narrative to tell a story.
The difference between the art scrolls of the past and the manga that appeared heavily post

WWII, is that manga was intended to be sold and has more capitalistic sentiment alongside it
than the art scrolls made for the elite. Osamu Tezuka, the creator of Astro Boy, was a mangaka
(manga artist) who is most often cited as inspiration for mangaka today, and it is clear why due
to the massive popularity of Astro Boy within Japan and internationally. Tezuka wrote within his
autobiography foreign influence within his works, which would not be possible had Japan not
opened its borders and become more integrated within the global community after the war.
The models for [my manga] were the German and French movies I saw in my days as a student.
I manipulated close-ups and angles, of course, and tried using many panel or even many pages in
order to capture faithfully movements and facial expressions that previously would have been
taken care of with a single panel, (Tezuka). Besides the German and French influence it is
evident that American comics also had a major impact on the popularity of manga within Japan,
and even the sequential work of political cartoons managed to leave influence in the paneling of
manga. This all of course seems to bring the idea of foreign influence as a positive one when it
comes to Japanese entertainment and pop culture, however it allows new stories to be told
through the xenophobic lens of pre-war Japan.
Knowing that Japan did not have any native vampire stories (Theresa Bane provides us
with things such as ghouls, and kappas, all of which are close but not modern vampires) the
west's vampire is what became Japan's vampire, but having a completely different culture
encounter a new monster leads to several different tales. The first cinematic venture for the
American-Japanese vampire is, Vampire Moth, and while it is a horror film that uses many
American-esque cinematic elements, the prominent vampire ability is draining blood from neck
wounds. Beyond this introductory film of vampires to Japanese media it is clear that afterwords
vampires are used as a metaphor of the fear of foreigners and has heavy xenophobic

implications. Fintan Monoghan, a writer for The Escapist magazine summarizes of DokuroKengyo, In the book, Amakusa is now a vampire, his deep immersion in Western culture having
turned him into a kind of monster capable of spreading his corrupting influence to others. The
vampire thus came to serve a function impossible for the homegrown Kappa or the Black Cat,
embodying a generation's fears of seditious foreign influence and the dangers of western ideas.
(Monoghan, Issue 293). This is only one of the early instances where a media work clearly
provides a view of Japan's outlook of western media as a foreign and perhaps corrupting tool. All
of these previous works helped pave the way for the start of a new vampire story, which is more
popular than perhaps any other Japanese vampire tale, Hirohiko Araki's, JoJo no Kimy na
Bken or JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a media powerhouse within Japan and internationally,
spawning video-games, anime (Japanese cartoons which are a cultural defining media), books
and more from the original manga which started in 1986. It is listed as the second best selling
manga translated into English by New York Times, and this resonates with the idea of the
Japanese vampire being a near replica of the western vampire. The events of JoJo's Bizarre
Adventure follow the curse between two families, the Joestar and Brando. The manga introduces
a stone mask which is something foreign, and not of the world according to Jonathan Joestar,
our Part 1 protagonist. This foreign object is then taken by the born evil Dio Brando and
utilized to make himself an immortal vampire. This vampire abides by several modern tropes; he
can no longer walk into sunlight, he draws blood from his victims and turns them into vampires
at times, he has superhuman strength, his skin is cold and his gaze is murderous. Looking at each
trope he follows we can see the Japanese twist put onto it from the culture which adores
superpowers. The protagonist learns a breathing method, named Hamon, which uses sun energy

and integrates sunlight with martial arts as to defeat the vampire Dio. What Dio does as a
vampire is slightly altered in that he draws blood from his fingers piercing the neck of his
victims. The significance behind this can be glossed over, but looking at it deeper it is a
representation for the idea that a victim is always within a foreigner's arm reach. One of the
things Dio represents similarly to Amakusa of Dokuro-Kengyo, is that he is a corrupting force,
one that transforms several people into vampires who do his bidding during Part 1 and Part 3.
The Dio of Part 1 is the blond haired devil, while Jonathan Joestar, while English has
characteristics of a Japanese man mixed with inspiration from cape-hero comics, with black hair
and dark colored eyes along a highly masculine body. Jonathan Joestar's body in fact is stolen
from him after the events of Part 1, where after several battles, and after Dio even being
decapitated, Jonathan is defeated, choosing to try to die alongside Dio on an exploding ship. Part
1 Dio is a clear representation of the evil of foreigners and the treatment they should receive due
to their evil.
Within a post war society, Japan with a xenophobic look at it's Korean and Chinese
populations, denied several people reparations that Japanese people received for the war effort.
From a UN report on Japan's xenophobia it is stated that, When the war ended, the project of
building [an] airport was abandoned, and the Koreans who were working there, far from
receiving war reparations, were forgotten and left in that land without work, resources, protection
or legal status. Within the same UN report it is said that during the World War that comfort
women arose, which was Korean women who were sex slaves for Japanese troops. The most
xenophobic and horrifying thing that is brought through today is that Japanese textbooks will
soon leave out the information of these comfort women, and there will be little remembrance of
the horrors accompanying it. Related back to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, the foreigner is clearly

different from the protagonist, what Dio represents besides evil is the idea that he is of course a
worthless being, that his actions are not justified whether they were good during his years before
becoming a vampire, and most frighteningly that as a foreign evil he is explained as simply born
that way. The reflection here is then, if foreigners are simply born evil there is no need to treat
them as human beings, though it represents a fear of foreign people, it also is a way in which
people can dehumanize another population.
Going alongside many other monsters, Dio simply does not die within Part 1. Part 2
focuses on the origin of the stone mask, and another foreign people arrive, Pillarmen, which are
similar to vampires except they are smarter, stronger and more apathetic to humans than Dio.
While the Pillarmen are defeated by Jonathan's grandson, Joseph, Dio is still alive and returns,
as a good monster always does in Part 3, (Schwartz). Part 3's protagonist is Joseph's grandson,
Jotaro Kujo, and he is half Japanese and half American, and this is where we see the introduction
of Japanese characters into the story. Jotaro unlike both Jonathan and Joseph, cannot use the
breathing-fighting technique of Hamon, and instead relies on a new power, a Stand. Stands are
psychic like entities that rely on the person's spirit, and while no two stands are the same,
similarly to the previous parts, Jotaro and Dio are intertwined by fate, for now alongside being a
vampire Dio now has a stand. Where the stand concept comes from is perhaps a nod to Shinto,
one of the two main religions of Japan alongside Buddhism. People pray for Kami or God's to
watch over them, and this is exactly what a stand does, as it stands next to it's user and protects
them.
The Dio of Part 3 is for the most part absent while Jotaro and a crew known as The
Crusaders hunt Dio down as to cure the curse placed on Jotaro's mother. In the battle between
Dio and Jotaro another theme about monsters comes true, that in order to defeat a monster one

must become a monster. Where Jonathan fails Jotaro must prevail, and the protagonist that
defeats his villain utilizes the same powers that his villain has. Now Part 3's lesson is more
complicated than Part 1 and is instead an attempt of cultural critique of Japan's xenophobia, as
well as an indicator of its xenophobia. To further explain we may look at Dio's stand, which in a
xenophobic manner in it's most blatant sense is called, The World. The World is titled in
such a way that it is clear that the world is Japan's enemy. Yet, what is the best way to defeat
one's enemy? Simply put through the story, it is defeat them at their own game. Jotaro's stand,
Star Platinum is exactly what a Shinto god is prayed to for, protection. When he first shows the
reader his stand it is when he attempts to shoot himself in the head and the hand of Star
Platinum stops the bullet. The appearance of Star Platinum includes references to Jonathan's
gloves used in fighting, as well as the face having the appearance of Part 1 Dio, symbolizing
further the need to become the monster to defeat the monster. What The World is able to do is
stop time, now for a superpower that is seen as nearly unbeatable, Star Platinum is revealed to
have the same ability, yet to a lesser extent due to Jotaro being human and not a vampire (the
duration of stopped time is two to five seconds compared to Dio's five to eleven). What is
signified from Jotaro's triumph over Dio, is that no matter the monster, if you can beat them
using their method you are the superior. This sentiment is xenophobic and Japanese patriotic in a
way by having the apparent weaker Japanese Jotaro defeat the foreign Dio. The lesson to the
Japanese reader from Part 3 is that even when you have The World as your enemy, you can
trust the Japanese hero to prevail unlike the English Jonathan. What transcends this lesson is the
idea that when the world drags out the Japanese from their xenophobia and border closing, is that
the Japanese will be able to become a superpower through the use of capitalism and will beat the
world at its own game.

The Japanese xenophobia represented within Dio has several meanings, it has
implications of foreign people being naturally born evil, as well as the thought that through
everything the vampire Dio and likewise the foreigner are always looking to take over the planet,
and in Japanese eyes the world is looking to take over their proud and honorable land. Marshall
Sahlins, an anthropologist, suggests Japan [has] come into [it's current] being through critical
interactions with outside peoples and imperious forces (Two or Three Things that I Know about
Culture, 415). Through the antagonist Dio we have the representation of the world being the
most fierce enemy, that needs a Japanese man to go through and use the worlds method's even
better than the rest of the world, or Dio can. The foreigner is unforgivable and hated, as much of
Japan's minority communities are discriminated and hated. The way to explain Japan's hatred and
sinister acts are simply to explain that the enemy is born evil, and perhaps with the occurrence of
The Raping of Nanking and the appearance of comfort women in World War II is to simply
forget of it later.
The social implications behind JoJo's Bizarre Adventure are clear within it's vampire
antagonist Dio. Dio is born evil, he is a threat to all that know of him, and perhaps as a way to
excuse Japan's xenophobia and hatred of surrounding oriental nations, the foreigner must be
destroyed. Japan's vampires are not native, and instead interpretations of western vampires with
Japanese culture's mix on the monster. Japan's vampire is then a representation of the evil of
foreigners and perhaps a critique from several artists and creators, that the way of the 1930's and
xenophobic tendencies before are better for Japan than changing alongside the west. The impact
of American comics on manga and other such Japanese media cannot be ignored, and perhaps a
positive impact of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure on Japanese culture itself is the export of its good's
such as manga, anime, videogames etc; When The World is defeated, perhaps it is the evil

connotation of the foreigner that is evil is destroyed and the Crusaders go back to their homes,
and after that bizarre adventure their relations won't be destroyed. Araki masterfully allows the
reader to interpret Dio as both a path leading the protagonist and user to xenophobia, and perhaps
along the 100 year old vampire's death a way to move past the xenophobia after Jotaro has
become the monster that was once feared. Xenophobia is a part of Japanese culture, this is
undeniable, but perhaps the heroes that are beloved by its Japanese people can show that getting
past their xenophobia is another battle that must be won.

Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/manga/list.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20061214115324/http://imadr.org/geneva/2006/G0610396.pdf
The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Sep., 1999), pp. 399- 421
Two or Three Things that I Know about Culture, Marshall Sahlins
Bunson, Matthew. The Vampire Encyclopedia. New York: Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1993. Print.
Bane, Theresa. Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology. Jefferson, NC: McFarland &, Pub., 2010. Print.
https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-24/edition-11/lure-horror

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107812-Vampire-Stories-Exposed-Japans-PastFear-of-Foreigners
http://refractory.unimelb.edu.au/2006/12/04/america-vs-japan-the-influence-of-american-comicson-manga-ludovic-graillat/
http://www.matt-thorn.com/mangagaku/history.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0154752/
Funfact: Dio makes an appearance in Part 7 of JoJo after a universe reset, and eventually regains
The World, he is no longer a vampire however, thus I did not include his persistence in this
case.