Mr. Wood, a 25-year-old graduate of Stanford University in California, and students like him have gravitated toward the modern Japanese arts, feeling they may help them advance their careers in animation, design, computer graphics and the business of promoting them.

Japan may be on a slow decline as far as being a global economic force, but the "soft power" of its modern entertainment genres, from manga to "anime," has global appeal, especially among young people. Why and how did this entertainment media thrive? How popular is it overseas?

The US military is using manga-style comic books to promote to Japanese children its view on the importance of Washington and Tokyo's half-century security alliance...The United States is publishing the Japanese-language comic as both nations mark the 50th anniversary of their security treaty, and two days before the 65th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

APDS Blogger: Tala Mohebi