Learning Japanese: The Wall Street Journal reports that Japanese-language programs, once the domain of international business majors, are now populated by fans of manga and anime:

"At UGA, about half the 100 Japanese-language students surveyed cite Japanese pop culture -- including animation, comics, pop songs and videogames -- as their top reason for studying the language, according to Natsuki Fukunaga, a Japanese instructor at the school. Impressed by her students' interest in Japanese pop culture, she wrote her master's thesis detailing the phenomenon. 'I was excited to see these kids really picking up this authentic Japanese culture,' she says."