The term “Cool Japan” was first used by an American journalist in 2002 and has since spread.
However, Japanese manga and anime began to attract attention abroad much earlier. The source notes that during the 1980s and 1990s, a number of Japanese anime productions were broadcast in France and gained popularity.
* At the time, France had strict regulations on TV broadcasting and there was a lack of children's programming. This led to the broadcasting of relatively inexpensive, high-quality Japanese animated works.
* Japanese animation works broadcast in France during this period, such as “Captain Tsubasa,” “Dragon Ball,” and “Dr. Slump Arale-chan,” were so popular among the children of the time that they are still recognized as “made in France animation.
These facts indicate that even before the term “Cool Japan” was coined, Japanese animation works had gained a certain level of recognition and popularity overseas.