>>512850964
America never thought it was important. It's still by far considered for kids. To be fair, America doesn't really need it as it already has military, economic and soft power might. Japan has none of those, at least to the same level, so it has to make do with soft-power.

I think the main answer is that Japan has had the cultural foundation for it hundreds of years with the country already having the preference for stylized art work instead of realism like a lot of other countries had.