ABSTRACT
Today it's a different story. Japan's pop culture has not only continued to evolve and blossom at home, it has also attracted a broad, street-level following overseas, giving Japan a new cultural impact on the world to complement its established economic impact. Japanese animation and comics have built a huge global following, and their Japanese names, anime and manga, have entered the international lexicon. A new generation of young Americans, Europeans, and Asians have grown up watching not Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny but Japanese cartoons, from Astro Boy, Speed Racer, Star Blazers, and Robotech to Doraemon, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, and Crayon Shinchan. Anime fan clubs, "fanzines," and Web sites have sprung up by the hundreds, and hit movies such as Akira and Ghost in the Shell have helped Japanese animation gross tens of millions of dollars in yearly international box office and video sales. Japan's manga (comics) are translated and read eagerly throughout the world, and the influence ofmanga's fine lines and realistic aesthetic style can be seen in Western fashion and graphic design.2
