From ComiPress comes this article from the Asahi Shimbun, which places much the blame credit on the shoulders of VIZ head honcho Seiji Horibuchi.

Okay, they’re probably right to some extent– they brought over a fair few of the titles that got people into manga, like Ranma 1/2. But honestly? I’d credit the anime and manga explosion largely to the Internet. Still, a neat article– Horibuchi has some interesting history. Homeboy was a hermit with his buddies for a year and a half? Groovy.