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At times, it seems almost a strange point of pride, a kind of one-downsmanship, to argue just how little Japan there is in modern Japan. Ironically, that may be a key to the spread of Japanese cool.

Hello Kitty drives an empire worth almost $1 billion in global sales per yea

Japan cool is not only limited to manga, anime and fashion, but also food and traditional handicrafts.

How to use Japan cool is not only the responsibility of the government, but also private enterprise and the nation as a whole.

Dramatic moments tend to distort time, either by slowing it down (usually long enough to call out the name of an attacker or the name of the "special move" used in the attack, or for bystanders to comment on the situation), or by looping three times. Similarly, transformations (especially those animated with stock footage) also seem to stop time until completed, allowing them to be used to counter attacks, or not allowing the person to be attacked while performing them. Death is not instantaneous to significant characters. Permanent death is also a rare occurrence. Humans are capable of instantaneously freezing into solid ice or transforming into stone when surprised and/or embarrassed. In lesser cases, a person's forehead will instantly turn blue. When a character is in an extremely pensive mood, the entire area around him/her will disappear into a featureless black void, while he/she remains illuminated by a misty light coming from an unknown but vertically located source. Intense emotion can be manifest in audible artifacts as well as physical/visual ones. For example, intense grief or concern imparts a slow repeat echo to the human voice in dramatic situations, even when appropriately placed reflective surfaces are not present. However, the amount of echo thus imparted is inversely proportional to the number of words, with anguished cries of another person's name usually receiving the most echo.

In a series where characters change size, the opponents must be of the same size to battle. The hero(es) cannot use their mech or their larger form to squish the monster, nor can the monster grow and squish the hero(es). This is also found in Tokusatsu series, especially Super Sentai, but not in Kaiju films, where monsters such as Godzilla often stomp humans at will. Sorrowful crying with much feeling can force tears to gush out like waterfalls. Usually used only during humorous situations, while in dramatic situations, the tear flow is more realistic. Angry scolding to another character causes the scolder to enlarge and grow sharp fangs while the person being scolded will shrink. Attacks strong enough to shred entire planets will not destroy anyone's clothes or hair. Conversely, certain explosions can destroy a female character's clothing without significantly harming her body—in some cases, without her initially noticing this. Any fire-based attack on a character will not completely burn his/her clothes but will leave black stains instead.

A single cut can be made swiftly, cleanly. This is possible with any object, particularly with hands, paper, swords, and even air. A sword, especially a katana, can cleanly cut through anything, even including large objects (such as ships) and hair, but not through other swords. There is a slight loophole in this law - if an expert fighter (even if using hand-to-hand techniques) wishes to end a duel with an obviously lesser opponent in an appropriately dramatic way, he can execute an appropriately dramatic attack that destroys his opponent's weapon-often without their knowledge; after completing a seemingly successful attack, they will notice the expert is unharmed and look at their weapon quizzically, at which point it will either fall into two cleanly cut pieces (in a dramatic battle) or shatter like glass (in a comedic battle). Wooden katanas (bokken) can cut just as well as the real thing (and are almost never destroyed by the aforementioned loophole), if not better. Faster than light travel is possible with many characters, particularly those engaged in martial art battles; and so a vehicle is not required. Trains and other unlikely forms of transportation can fly, through either technology or magic. And the bigger it is, the faster it moves. Any female can, if angered by someone, pull out a wooden rice mallet, of any proportions, from hammerspace and hit the offender with it to let go of some aggressions. It should be noted that, no matter how large the mallet is, or how flat the offender gets after the pounding, he/she will always revert to original shape without having to experience any lasting health deterioration from the whole ordeal. A good example of this is in the anime Pokémon: when Misty explained her hatred of bugs, she whacked Caterpie with a rice mallet.

Death can be suspended until it is appropriate, suspenseful, or ironic. During the end part of some battles, characters may opt to charge at one another with their sword, meaning to chop the other in half. At the point of contact, all that will be seen is a bright white slash going across the screen, but it will remain unclear who is hurt. The two characters will then stay, kneeling on the floor, facing away from each other, until the evil character falls into pieces, having been killed minutes earlier. For added dramatic effect, the good character will clutch the area that they were hit or cough up blood, after the two have performed their attacks and are facing away from each other, making it appear as though they lost. A few moments later, the evil character will fall to the ground, defeated. Also note, death is never, under ANY circumstance, certain, a character can be impaled, literally from navel to nose and come back later, unscathed. Every human body contains 16 gallons of blood under high pressure-a familiar term used is 'to make it rain blood'. This will not occur if whatever inflicts the wound is left in it, which allows the attacker to withdraw it, turn, wipe it clean and put it away-blood may begin spraying from the wound like a firehose after any one of these actions. Alternatively, the mortally wounded character may pull it out himself and use it to execute a final attack. Non-impaling wounds, such as being crushed or falling from a great height, usually do not cause these geysers of blood, but nosebleeds will often fountain impressively immediately upon a character's recognition of appropriate portions of an attractive female body. This is apparently true conversely, as sexual innuendo in the form of a guitar causes significant nosebleeds in the female cast of FLCL. Loud noises, such as screams of anguish and explosions, can be heard from space. All sounds can be transmitted in space, e.g. transmitted differently then with air-compression waves. Band-aids heal anything and everything, especially when applied with care. Any pain inflicted in a humorous fashion will almost never cause any lasting damage.

Whenever a female character falls down while running in any non-humorous scene, she will almost certainly sprain her ankle in such a way that movement becomes impossible. Furthermore, if the character is the leading female character, she will be found or be in the company of the male lead and he will carry her on his back, sparking a deeper romantic interest. Should two characters of the opposite sex fall within proximity of each other, the male's face will end up planted in the female's crotch or chest. Skirts will helpfully flip up to provide maximum humiliation to both parties, and shirts will open to reveal maximum cleavage. Towels will fly off both parties for this same reason. In the rare occasion that the female is wearing pants, the male will instead be on top of the female while groping the female's breast(s). In a similar sexual vein, a pre-adolescent girl will blossom out with full breasts and hips, sometimes growing instantly out of her clothing (common in erotic manga.) Characters, mostly men, can run perfectly and quickly, with their arms trailing behind them or sticking straight out from their sides. This is often done in a comical fashion, and possibly fleeing from an angered female character.

The hero always wins with two exceptions a. the other guy cheated b. the other guy is a master at fighting or something b1. Amendment: no matter how strong the other guy is, the hero will be able to beat him or her with an intense compacted training session, usually in the span of one day(unless handwaving time compression technology is available, enabling the hero to accomplish weeks or months of training in that same period of time). b2. Amendment: the other guy can win, but the hero will then proceed to train while dead in a variety of ultimate techniques, and will then return from the dead. All but the last technique trained in will cause damage, but will not defeat the other guy. The hero will then use the final technique. This technique often is said to result in death for the user, but almost always fails to do so. b3. Amendment: the other guy will eventually like the hero and instantly switch sides, often including a tear jerking, episode long flashback that involves crying, childhood memories, and random other events involving the other guy, often in the middle of a battle with time standing still (Often in tandem with first example). In most manga series the main characters (most times a boy) will always be secretly coveted by a girl, which later blooms into a relationship. In some occasions, some characters' injuries heal much quicker. (i.e. One Piece) No matter the relative strengths or abilities, a male character always takes a maximum amount of damage when punched by an angry female character in a comedic manner (often with the male being knocked bodily to the ground or across a room)