DUBAI // Haitham al Najjar has hardly slept all summer.
"I stay up all night, every night - like a vampire," said the 17-year-old Emirati.
The reason for his insomnia?
A bunch of wide-eyed Japanese cartoon characters chasing adventure in comic books known as manga.
One of many fans of the genre, Mr al Najjar follows multiple manga series - including every book of a popular pirate story called One Piece that began publishing more than a decade ago. While waiting for new chapters to come out he occupies himself with other series.
As the popularity of the Japanese comic books has grown in the UAE, so too has the passion of its followers - whether they are drawn in by the hyper-cute heroes, the twists and turns of their endless escapades or cultural lessons embedded in the plots.
Bookstores can hardly keep up. The country's biggest manga supplier, the Japanese bookstore Kinokuniya in Dubai Mall, has nearly doubled its stock to 120 shelves in less than two years. One in 25 books in the vast store features the Japanese characters, said the merchandising manager, Michael Seet.
"It is extremely popular," he said. "We are very happy."
When Borders opened a store in March in Mirdif City Centre, it too stocked manga books. They sold so well that other stores also have expanded their selection, said Arwind Dubey, who oversees the chain's merchandising in the Gulf.
To expand their personal libraries the 35 members of the Japan Club at Zayed University organise gatherings to swap materials. For their fifth anniversary two years ago, they dressed up as manga characters.
"It was really cool," said the club president, Sara Waleed al Sayed, 20.
Another devotee, Qais Sedki, a 34-year-old Emirati, last summer published the first Arab-language manga book, Gold Ring, featuring a young falconer in the Arabian desert. Now he's working on the second book.
Sultan Qassim Sultan, 26 an Emirati, opened his themed restaurant, named, appropriately, Manga Sushi in Jumeirah last year. Several walls feature floor-to-ceiling drawings of characters, while others display action figures, rows of books and TV screens showing manga movies. Waitresses dress like manga characters, with baby-blue pleated skirts and fluorescent streaks in their hair. Dishes are named after popular manga series, such as Dragonball and Crazy Naruto.
Haitham al Najjar is not the only manga lover in his family. Recently, eight relatives - sisters and cousins, all fans - dined at the restaurant.
"This place is different from everywhere else," said his 22-year-old sister, Buthaina.
Another sister, Joumana, 19, picked up her first book a week ago and has read five every day since.
Fans say part of the compulsion to read so much is that the plots continue from book to book, sometimes for years.
Abdulrahman Mohammed bin Hindi, a 23-year-old Emirati, spends Dh850 a week at Kinokuniya to keep up.
"Now when my friends and I go to the Dubai Mall, they won't go near the bookstore," he said. "If I go in I'll stay for one hour."
When he cannot find the latest chapters there, he reads pirated versions online. When one of his go-to websites shut down recently, he switched to another.
For a while he considered moving to Japan but changed his mind because he was getting married.
Instead he has gotten his fiancee hooked, handing over 13 books for her to read before she left on a recent trip.
"I am trying to go [to Japan] for my honeymoon," he said.
Many fans prefer manga over other comics or graphic novels because their plot lines seem less simplistic.
"It breaks the tradition in animation where everything is predictable - rainbow and sunshine," said Mr Sultan, the manga restaurateur. "You see none of that in manga. They know the reader is smarter than that," he said.
Likewise, the characters often seem less like a cartoon.
"They seem a lot more real than their North American counterparts, [who] are harder to relate to," said Mr Sedki, the Emirati author. "They have superpowers I don't have."
The author sees manga as inspiring, and believes it is a way to promote Emirati culture among youths. His protagonist enjoys a good relationship with his mother and perseveres amid challenges.
A self-proclaimed otaku - someone obsessed with manga - he even organised the First Annual Otaku Summit last November at Manga Sushi.
"The word is kind of offensive because it implies the person has no life," he said. "But here we have otaku pride."
@Email:chuang@thenational.ae
Company%20Profile
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Brief scoreline:
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
As You Were
Liam Gallagher
(Warner Bros)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The%20specs
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The%20Kitchen
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Company%20Profile
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