Manga, or comics, are commonly seen. There are even compilations of different manga. Some are considered as shounen manga (manga for boys), some as shoujo manga (manga for girls). They are not just prevalent in Japan but different sorts of manga reach other parts of the world. Some are translated by publishers like Dark Horse and Viz. There are also the fans who do scanlations – scans with translations they made themselves.
Mainichi has a project called Manglish, which is the contraction of Manga in English. It is an amazing effort on the part of Mainichi in bridging the gap between Japanese and English speakers who want to read manga and learn either language at the same time. Their style of showing the manga in English is not your usual translation wherein the text is completely replaced by the translation. Instead, the actual image of the entire page is given, so everything is in Japanese if you look at it. But when you hover your mouse over the specific speech bubbles, sound effects, etc. you will see the English translations. Awesome, isn’t it? You see the context of the manga and the actual dialogues. At the same time, you see them in both languages.
Japanese who wish to learn English can do so with this project. Reading manga makes it easier in a way. This is especially for young people who are otaku. Cultural notes are also important. Hopefully the Manglish project will also include that so that it would be more effective for the message of the manga to get through the readers.