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.

Growing support is evident for the concurrent usage of both “East Sea” and “Sea of Japan” to refer to the body of water located between the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago.

The term "Cool Japan" was a localized take on the UK's "Cool Britannia" idea of the 1990s. The idea of "Cool Japan" was centered on the country's position as a rising soft power superpower. Soft power is the culture influence countries have, while hard power is the influence from political, military, or economic power.

Japan's investment and skills are crucial to Kosovo's development, but the country also has much to offer Japanese businesses seeking opportunities in the region, visiting Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci told The Japan Times in an interview Thursday.

It's a story that's so fantastic, so full of twists and turns, that it would be hard to make up. Manjiro left Japan for his first fishing trip at age 14, but was swept away from the coast and shipwrecked, Preus explains. After surviving for five months on an island, he was picked up by an American whaling ship and brought to the U.S., where he studied and had many adventures.

On May 30, the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies (CNAPS) at Brookings hosted a discussion examining the use of public diplomacy in Northeast Asia. Leading experts discussed the objectives, practices, opportunities and challenges in public diplomacy for China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.