The Foreign Ministry’s appointment of the robot cat Doraemon as a “cultural ambassador” in 2008 is one instance. Another, less well known, concerns water trucks sent by Japan to Iraq in 2004 as a contribution to reconstruction of the war-shattered nation. The trucks were marked not by the Japanese flag but by a national symbol deemed (rightly) more instantly recognizable abroad — manga and anime soccer hero Captain Tsubasa. Talk about soft power!

The 24th country I visited as part of my cultural diplomacy tour was South Africa, where I gave lectures for six days from July 30 at the University of Pretoria's Gordon Institute of Business Science in Johannesburg. It was my first lecture on the African continent.

Is nation-branding effective? Japan is perhaps a good case study. Japan has engaged in a dedicated effort to brand its nation through pop culture, among other things. It is leveraging the popular culture of anime and manga comics to become “cool” in the eyes of the world.

Shinkai has been awarded best director by the Association of Media in Digital (AMD), yet he remains relatively unknown beyond dedicated anime circles.That began to change this past fall, when he toured the United States and Britain...

My career in anime cultural diplomacy started in 2007 when I was asked by the Foreign Ministry to give a lecture to diplomats prior to their overseas postings. The lecture covered the anime industry and its goals...One of the diplomats in attendance asked me to give the same lecture in Europe...

Almost four years have passed since I began cultural diplomacy through anime...I have given lectures at universities and appearing as a guest at Japanese pop events. I have noticed the government's policy toward such overseas events seems to have changed..

By now it's no secret to anyone with a high-speed Internet connection: The gap between the popularity of contemporary Japanese culture overseas and its anemic industries at home has become a chasm. Anime conventions in the United States continue to proliferate..

If I were able to travel back in time and tell my teenage self that I would one day be enthusiastically welcomed in Manhattan as a lecturer on Japanese anime, fashion and music, the younger me--a fan of films set in the Big Apple--would never believe it. But in October I did indeed speak as an invited guest at the New York Anime Festival.