Manga, anime, J-pop, J-dramas, Japanese fashion, and much, much more are now a ubiquitous part of global “cool” culture. This raises a very important question: how did Japan become a country that came to viewed as “cool?” Longtime observers of Japan will remember the halcyon days of the “Bubble Economy” of the mid- to late-80s when Japan was an economic and manufacturing powerhouse poised to overtake the United States. The burst of the “bubble” in the late 1980s led to what is generally known as the “Lost Decades,” a period of economic stagnation that continues to the present day. In the face of declining global economic and political prestige, the Japanese government launched the “Cool Japan” initiative in an attempt to rebrand the nation as a “cultural superpower.” Since then, the Japanese government has spent billions of yen (hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars) in China, South Korea, and Japan itself to promote the “coolness” of Japanese culture. In this course, we will examine the global ascendency of Japanese popular culture and its economic, social, and diplomatic impacts. Attention will also be paid to how the study of Japanese popular cultural redefined the terrain of international Japanese Studies. This course will be of particular interest to students in Japanese Studies, sociology, history, international relations, cultural studies and public policy.