One of my librarian colleagues just tipped me off to this documentary from American Radioworks about the pop cultural power of Japan. You can download it here. Reporters visit stores in Japan, go to an anime convention, talk about youth culture, and comment on the economics of manga and anime. You can listen to a teenage reporter talk about her reading habits as she goes to a mall bookstore. She treats a waldenbooks as her manga library, and names the series that she likes. Cultural studies professors also comment about the spread of Japanese pop culture. The material is mostly presented at an introductory level, but it is really interesting hearing the comments from the teens who are into manga. You can read more at the program’s website.