China plans a theme park to celebrate Hello Kitty, the cutesy cat with no mouth but a cult-like following…Hello Kitty’s popularity in China can be seen as a counterpoint to Sino-Japanese political tensions by demonstrating the population’s embrace of Japanese style...

People often get to know about another country's culture through its cuisine... During the Golden Week holiday, that's how nearly 50 people in Tokyo got to know more about the rich history of Estonia, learning how to make Estonian culinary delights.

Japan is a nation built on contradictions and juxtapositions, a place you'll find modern skyscrapers next to ancient temples, or Shinto couples being wed in Christian-style ceremonies. And for the record, here's another example: Cool Japan and Isolated Japan.

Good cultural diplomacy is always drawn from the unique.  American country music is one area that projects a wholly American image of the rugged hero sitting high in the saddle or a scorned yet powerful woman singing about lost love. Country songs are about what the French would call la condition humaine, universal stories strummed on a guitar. As such, country music has a vast global appeal.

How country music shapes America's brand status. 

Unique Japan opens a window to rare Japanese cultures, suggesting understanding of Chinese culture is limited there, since, while the classical culture is well-preserved by the Japanese, they tend to know little about modern Chinese culture.

Tunisia and Ishinomaki, one of the hardest hit towns, have over the past two decades developed a strong bond, albeit an unusual one in being between a country and a small town. Ishinomaki has named three streets after Tunisia, and as one Japanese blogger put it, the relationship is like "true love between lovers hailing from different classes."