さよならにっぽん [Sayonara Nippon]

Katsuhiro Otomo’s Sayonara Nippon is a single-issue, standalone graphic novel published by Futabasha in 1981, a poignant and sprawling farewell to a rapidly changing Japan. The story follows a Japanese man returning home after years abroad, only to find himself a stranger in his own country, his journey becoming a meditation on dislocation and national identity. Otomo’s detailed, cinematic art and his deeply humanist storytelling make this a quietly essential work from the creator’s early career, offering a more intimate counterpoint to his later, larger-scale epics.