By George Nishiyama
TOKYO (Reuters) - First it was cheque-book diplomacy, then it was "boots on the ground". Now Japan is eying its pop culture as a way to wield influence around the world.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso proposed on Friday setting up a "Nobel Prize" for foreign "manga" cartoon artists and awarding talented Japanese the title of "Anime Ambassador".
Aso, who has often angered Beijing with remarks about the wartime past, also said Japan’s anime and manga could be the way to China’s heart.
"What you have been doing ... has grabbed the hearts of young people in many countries, including China," he told an audience of some 100 students at the University of Digital Content in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, known for its electronic gadgetry.
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"It’s something we, the Foreign Ministry, can never do," he added, noting the popularity of Japanese anime cartoons in China.
Ties between Japan and China deteriorated after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi took office and began annual visits to a Tokyo shrine where convicted war criminals are honoured along with Japan’s millions of war dead.
"Pop culture has the power to influence the public, so we want to and need to have it on our side," Aso said, adding the United States -- once Japan’s enemy -- won over Japanese hearts with its pop culture, including the cartoon, "Popeye".
"It planted in the Japanese an image that Americans are nice and strong. Until then, the Japanese despised them."
Japan, which for decades stressed official development aid as the main tool of its diplomacy, has in recent years been seeking a bigger security role in the region and the world.
It sent troops to Iraq on a non-combat mission -- so-called "boots on the ground" -- in their riskiest mission since World War Two.
