Online activists are deploying some surprising strategies to combat ISIS propaganda, and while some experts are applauding their initiative, they are also questioning how much U.S. officials can learn from their efforts.

Japan’s Asahi Shimbun reported back in June that a planned Yang-Yachi meeting in mid-July would focus on two topics: Abe’s planned statement on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and a possible summit between the Chinese and Japanese leaders. Abe and Xi have meet several times since both assumed office, but always on the sidelines of larger multilateral groupings. A purely bilateral meeting between Asia’s two largest economies would be a major step forward.

After an all-out four-day weekend in Los Angeles, Anime Expo closed its doors for another year on July 5. Finally, Marc Perez  has a few moments to breathe. “The hours are very nice a couple of months out of the year,” the CEO of the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA), says of his job. Then it’s another 11 months of pre-con crunch time.

I first realized the extent to which the word “kawaii” had spread across the world untranslated and come to be regarded as a verbal symbol of Japan when I served as a producer for the Kawaii Ambassadors (Cute ambassadors) program in fiscal 2009. Wherever we went, Kawaii Ambassadors were fervently welcomed. In Recife, Brazil, about 20,000 people turned out at an open-air venue to see them.

In June, the Chinese Ministry of Culture blacklisted 38 Japanese anime and manga from distribution in China. [...] However, in the hearts and minds of Chinese fans of Japanese anime, the Great Firewall of China is acting a little too late. 

When Rafidah Abd Rahim traveled to Japan from Singapore last year, the recent college graduate was relieved to find a goodly number of lifestyle offerings for Muslim travelers, such as halal food—that is, fare that complies with Islamic dietary guidelines—and easily available prayer rooms.