Teaching Japanese Culture Through Anime: A Case Study

Japanese animated films (anime1 ) play an important role internationally not only as a representation of Japanese culture but also as a way of bringing non-Japanese who share an interest in anime together. Kelts (2006: 5) notes that he has seen examples of Japanese anime in the daily lives of American people — in friends’ homes, on posters on college campuses and streets, etc. —which he refers to as “a third wave of Japanophilia.”