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Japan's grey-suited bureaucrats have teamed up with a blue cartoon cat and Tokyo fashionistas sporting 'Gothic Lolita' urban chic in an official drive to promote hip Japan around the world.
Long famed for its cars and high-tech goods, the world's number two economy has stepped up an official campaign to promote its cultural offerings, from Tokyo city wear to video games and award-winning animation films.
Prime Minister Taro Aso - an avowed fan of Japan's manga comics -- has thrown his enthusiastic support behind the drive to earn hearts, minds and hard cash by promoting the soft power of "cool Japan" overseas.
His conservative government has earmarked $118 million for a museum on Japanese cartoon art and pop culture to be built in Tokyo that one English-language daily has dubbed the "anime shrine".
"It will be a center that allows visitors to see and collect information on Japan's manga, anime, video games and media art," said Akira Shimizu, who heads the arts division at the government's cultural affairs agency.
The museum, to be built in coming years, pending parliamentary approval, is part of Aso's plan to grow Japan's cultural exports into an industry worth $200 to 300 billion by 2020.
"The word 'manga' has entered the global lexicon," Aso said as he outlined the plan last month. "Japan has materials that attract consumers around the world such as animation, games, fashion - so-called 'Japan Cool'."
Much of Japanese pop culture has already won fans across Asia and around the world in recent years - from classic manga characters like Astroboy and video game figures such as the Mario Brothers and Pokemon to Oscar-winning animation movies like Hayao Miyazaki's 2004 film "Howl's Moving Castle."
Manga comics - an industry worth $4.6 billion in Japan last year, according to the private Research Institute for Publications - have long ago gone global and have won a cult following in the West.
Not all of Japan's cultural exports have won praise. Some manga comics are notorious for featuring extreme violence and sexual themes, and a video game in which players stalk and rape women has sparked outrage this year.
The government has picked the far more family friendly cartoon characters to promote Japan, and last year appointed robotic hero cat "Doraemon" as the nation's first "Anime Ambassador".
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(Agencies)
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身著灰色制服的日本官員與一只藍色卡通貓和展現“哥特洛麗塔”式都市流行風的東京時尚達人共同出席了一個官方活動，旨在向世界介紹一個時尚的日本。
日本長期以來以汽車和高科技產品聞名于世，近日這個全球第二大經濟體開展了一項宣傳文化產業的官方活動，其中包括東京都市流行服飾、電子游戲以及獲獎動畫影片。
首相麻生太郎公開聲稱自己是日本動漫粉絲，他對這項通過在海外宣傳“酷日本”的軟實力，以贏得民心、關注以及投資的活動表現出極大的熱情與支持。
麻生所領導的保守派政府已撥款1.18億美元，用來在東京建設一個日本卡通藝術和流行文化博物館，一家英文日報稱之為“動漫神社”。
日本政府文化事務局負責藝術事務的清水晃說：“它將成為游人觀摩和收集日本的漫畫、動畫、電子游戲和媒體藝術信息的中心。”
這座將于未來幾年落成的博物館還需經議會批準，這也是麻生太郎將日本的文化出口產值在2020年前增至2000億至3000億美元的計劃的一部分。
麻生太郎在上月闡釋該計劃時說：“manga（日本動漫）一詞已被收錄進全球詞典。日本擁有動畫、游戲、時尚等吸引全球消費者的文化元素，因此也被稱為‘酷日本’。”
近年來，日本大部分流行文化已在亞洲和全球賺得大批粉絲，包括鐵臂阿童木等經典漫畫人物、超級瑪麗和寵物小精靈等電子游戲角色、以及宮崎駿2004年拍攝的《哈爾的移動城堡》等入圍奧斯卡的動畫影片。
根據私人的出版業研究所統計，日本動漫產業去年產值達46億美元。日本動漫很久以前就已走向全球，并在西方國家有大批忠實粉絲。
但并非所有的日本文化輸出都受到贊譽。一些日本動漫由于渲染極端暴力和性主題而聲名狼藉。今年有一款玩家可以潛近并強奸女性的游戲也激起民憤。
日本政府挑選了更受家庭歡迎的卡通形象來宣傳本國，并于去年委任機器貓“哆啦A夢”出任國家首任“卡通大使”。
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（英語點津 實習生許雅寧編輯） |
