On a similar note…

Writing for The Christian Science Monitor, Amelia Newcomb looks at the growing influence of Japan’s pop-culture exports:

“In France last year, for example, 1,787 foreign comic books were translated – 64 percent of them Japanese. In the US, total manga sales in 2007 rose about 5 percent, to more than $210 million, according to ICV2.com, a trade website. Otakon, a convention devoted to Japanese pop culture in Baltimore, saw a record-breaking 26,000-plus attendees this past summer.”