As his wife shopped, two boys in the back seat strained to see a popular Japanese cartoon show about a bean-paste-filled superhero on the 6-inch-wide screen.

WSJ: In Japan, Television Viewing Doesn't Have to Take a Back Seat

It is fueled by images that fill the childhoods of most urban Asian-Americans: photos of martial arts icon Bruce Lee, sumo wrestlers and Japanese cartoon characters -- all of it, on the inside pages, in not very chic black and white.

CNN: Raw, Original and Truthful

More recent products have featured both Japanese and Western cartoon characters.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Approximately 685 Japanese children suffered the fits after watching a Pokemon television cartoon in 1997.

BBC: Scientists probe cartoon seizures