Anime and manga

[2][3][4] The anime and manga industry forms an integral part of Japan's soft power as one of its most prominent cultural exports.

[5] In Japanese, the word "subculture" (サブカルチャー, sabukaruchā) does not have the same connotation of oppositional culture as it does in English, so it is frequently used in situations where "fandom" might be preferred by Westerners instead.

Some industry participants in both Japan and the United States have expressed tacit acceptance of fanmade translations, seeing them as a trial run for the American market.

[8] Other types of media such as light novels[6] and video games[4] are frequently associated with and considered part of the anime and manga subculture.

However, beginning in 2000, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology recognized anime and manga as part of "traditional" Japanese culture, and the government began to promote them as part of its Cool Japan strategy, passing the Content Industry Promotion Law [jp] in June 2004.

The rapid growth of the genre in the United States has led some commentators to deem it an American import rather than a Japanese export.