The US military is to use manga-style comics to teach Japanese children about the two countries' security alliance.

Four comics featuring a Japanese girl and a visiting US boy.
In it the young girl, Arai Anzu - which sounds like alliance when pronounced by a Japanese person - asks the boy, Usa-kun - a play on USA - why he is protecting her house.

"Because we have an alliance," he says. "We are 'Important Friends'."

"It's good to have a friend you can rely on to go with you," the little girl concludes.