"Hall-of-Fame" for Anime, Manga and Video Games to be built in Tokyo.

Manga fan

Aso argues that embracing Japanese pop culture can be an important step to cultivating ties with other countries, hoping that manga will act as a bridge to the world.[56] He is referred to as an Otaku.[57]

Aso is a fan of manga since childhood. He had his family send manga magazines from Japan while he was studying at Stanford University.[58] In 2003, he described reading about 10 or 20 manga magazines every week (manga make up only part of Aso's voracious reading) and talked about his impression of various manga extemporaneously.[58] In 2007, as Minister for Foreign Affairs, he established the International Manga Award for non-Japanese manga artists.[59][60][61]

It was reported that Aso was seen reading the manga "Rozen Maiden" in Tokyo International Airport, which earned him the sobriquet "His Excellency Rozen".[62] He admitted in an interview that he had read the manga; however, he said he did not remember whether he had read it in an airport.[63]

Aso's candidacy for the position of Japanese Prime Minister actually caused share-value to rise among some manga publishers and companies related to the manga industry.[56]