Thursday's Wall Street Journal, in an article titled 'Learning Japanese, Once About Resumes, Is Now About Cool,' notes that Japanese, while no longer the favored Asian language for business-oriented students (that's now Chinese), is growing in popularity due to the increasing interest in Japanese pop culture in the U.S.  Manga, anime, fashion, videogames, and pop music are all factors. 

 

The article quotes a Modern Language Association survey that reports that the number of students studying Japanese in institutions of higher learning the U.S. was up 21% since 1998 (to 52,238).  And a University of Georgia survey found that about half of its Japanese language students were taking the course because of an interest in Japanese pop culture. 

 

One way retailers can capitalize on this new interest in Japanese language is with Japanese the Manga Way, an Illustrated Guide to Grammar and Structure, a new 304-page trade paperback due out from Stonebridge in November.  It uses manga from Japan to instruct readers on the language.