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Westerners view "appeal" in art as moral degradation. Japan, at points in its history have held the same view, but after world war 2 japan no longer able to focus on military expansion poured its focus instead into cultural and economic expansion.
"Cool Japan" is both evidence for and against this, for, because its explicit cultural expansion, against, because it didn't get started until 1980.
So... I dunno man, its probably a fluke, but there might be something in what I've said.
Assuming you accept the initial premise. American and Japanese cultural exports are the largest and most successful, and per capita, Japan is doing surprisingly well, isn't it, especially with this "anime" stuff.
