Japanese philanthropists hide behind masked manga heroes (Feature)

By Lars Nicolaysen Jan 20, 2011, 3:02 GMT

Tokyo - A a staff member of a children's home outside Tokyo arrived at work on Christmas Day to find 10 new leather satchels outside the door, each worth several hundred dollars.

With the bags was a card from someone calling him or herself Naoto Date, a name other staff members remembered from the manga and anime series Tiger Mask, which first appeared in the late 1960s.

The name appears to have been no coincidence, as the hero of that series conquers the wrestling ring under the anonymity of a mask, and donates his winnings to the orphanage where he himself grew up.

News of the unusual donation in Maebashi, Gumma prefecture, quickly spread, sparking a craze which has seen orphanages and care homes across Japan showered with anonymous gifts in recent weeks.

Calling themselves Naoto Date or Joe Yabuki - the hero of a similar boxing-based series - phantom philanthropists have been donating satchels, school materials, rice and vegetables, nappies, or cash to institutions for disadvantaged children.

News reports of what is known as the Tiger Mask Phenomenon have been welcomed with relief by the Japanese public, whose historically strong sense of family values has been challenged by a string of child abuse scandals and cases of missing elderly people.

Sociologists say that the surge in anonymous charity could be driven by a desire to return to the role models of popular culture half a century ago.

'People have longed for good news because there is so much dreadful news every day,' author Keiko Ochiai, who runs a children's bookstore, was quoted as saying by Kyodo News.

Anonymity is key to this very Japanese mode of giving, experts said. Unlike generous but attention-craving US billionaires, 'Japanese would hate it if their names were revealed in making donations,' said Kensuke Suzuki, an associate professor of sociology at Kwansei Gakuin University.

The same secrecy can also be seen in their internet habits, as the Japanese reluctance to be identified online has been an obstacle to the expansion of social networking websites such as Facebook.

Suzuki said that the anonymous donors are probably in their 50s, and grew up reading and watching Tiger Mask, Kamen Rider and other manga classics in the late '60s and early '70s.

'They are the characters of an era when what is right and what is wrong was clear and simple,' the sociologist said.

Others have been more critical of the motives behind the giveaways. 'Those donors probably include people whose ties with their families and friends have been severed, and who have no place to express affection for others,' photographer Shinya Fujiwara was quoted as saying by the same Kyodo article.

Observers have said that the trend might also be a symptom of Japan's need for effective ways to donate to charity and tax breaks for the donors.

Publishing house Kodansha Ltd, meanwhile, was said to be planning a reprint of the Tiger Mask comics.

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