"The Real Japan"?

I recently read 'Wrong About Japan: A Father's Journey With His Son'. The author, Peter Carey, wrote the book after being sucked into his son's fascination with Anime and Manga. The book is about the father and son visiting Japan in an attempt to nail down the Japanese Culture behind the art forms.
I read it because someone I know is fixated on the same types of things, and I was hoping to gain a little insight. The quote below is attributed, in the book, to Hayao Miyazaki, a prominent animator, film director and manga artist.

"...One of the most important of man's abilities is the imagination, so the purpose of his creative activities is to develop the imagination of children, the coming generations. Imagination can create a totally different world,depending on its use. It can give birth to virtue, or destructive weapons which threaten the whole world."