>From a left perspective (a threadbare pretense to clutter the list, I know),
a far more interesting pop culture character from Japan, though, is
Anpanman.
Anpanman means Beanjam bun Man. He and his friends go off on adventures to do battle again Bacteria Man. When the going gets tough, Beanjam bun Man, since his big, round head is made of something edible, bread and red bean jam, offers up his himself for food. And he even does this out of love for little children who get lost and happen to meet him. Don't worry, Beanjam bun Man does have access to a restorative process, so should you happen to meet him, there's plenty of beanjam bun to go around.
Hmmm...if it ever caught on in the US, of course Beanjam bun Man would be attacked for trying to be Jesus Christ (though it would cause all sorts of headspins in that protestant vs. catholic debate over transubstantiation).
For me details see: http://www.kcif.or.jp/en/newsletter/lik/archives/03_2001.htm
To see what our carbohydrate-rich caped crusader looks like:
http://www.linkclub.or.jp/~origuchi/anpan3D/gallery/cg01/cg01.html
There is a museum for him in Kochi, a really lovely place on the east coast of Shikoku.
As a digression on another cultural topic: for any tempted to go out and buy a Harry Potter book because they are looking for a light, entertaining read: DON'T.
Go get Ursula K. Leguin's 'Earthsea Quartet' or any adolescent fiction by Alan Garner (one of the greatest post-war writers the UK has!), such as the 'Owl Service' or 'Red Shift'. O.K., so the local Borders will let you down, so try www.amazon.co.uk or something.
Charles Jannuzi