Short answers, pulled from the story.
The term manga first entered common usage in the late 18th century with Santō Kyōden's picturebook Shiji no yukikai published in 1798. The word comes from two kanji characters meaning whimsical or impromptu and pictures.
Osamu Tezuka created Astro Boy which quickly became immensely popular both domestically and internationally. Machiko Hasegawa focused on daily life and women's experience through her Sazae-san series that drew more viewers than any other anime on Japanese television in 2011.
Digital manga now accounts for approximately ¥500 billion while print makes up about ¥200 billion of that total. Sales reached a record high of ¥704.3 billion by 2024 after jumping to ¥612.6 billion in 2020.
France became the biggest manga importer making 55% of comics sold there Japanese works by 2021. Germany saw sales rise 75% from its 2005 record of 70 million copies celebrating Manga Day every August 27th since 2010.
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has awarded the International Manga Award annually since May 2007 recognizing global contributions. Kyoto Seika University began offering a highly competitive course in 2000 followed by other established universities creating training curricula.