Because of this, Japan Singapore
to promote Japanese culture and ideals throughout Asia .
It also includes a national Manga award that is given to people who promote
manga outside the country and finally, a cat robot Anime Ambassador.
One of the first objectives Japan wants to address with its pop culture
diplomacy is the idea that Japan Japan
And finally, Japan Japan China and South
Korea , actively use Japan
Overall, pop culture
definitely adds ways Japan
I agree that Japan has come to realize that a major source of soft power is the culture developed by and rooted in the Japanese people. However, Japan’s rising position as a cultural “superpower” is due, in large part, to their promotion of subculture icons rather than traditional culture relics. For example, fads such as manga, J-pop, and Pokémon all rapidly gained widespread popularity in the United States during the early 2000s, but once the initial hype died down, the majority of the population moved on to the “next best thing.” Only the extreme fanatics and Japanophiles retained their interest in these cultural exports, which plays into their “nerd stigma.”
ReplyDeleteDespite its oscillating life cycle, pop culture can still be a successful public diplomacy tool. The key is in its transmission and its reception. Nye states, “There is an element of triviality and fad in popular behaviour, but it is also true that a country that stands astride popular channels of communication has more opportunities to get its messages across and to affect the preferences of others.” In essence, pop culture is the gateway to introducing others to the Japanese culture. By simply hooking non-Japanese populations to pop culture fads, Japan can build off of that initial interest to build their brand as a “peace-creating nation.”
So even with short-lived periods of “J-cool” crazes, Japanese pop culture has achieved a major soft power objective, to get foreign audiences to see Japan in a positive light, as well as a major economic objective, to commercialize the export of manga or anime as a means of pulling Japan out of its recession.
It certainly is true that Japan's international image abroad is a positive one. It's effective use of soft power via pop culture over that last few decades has provided Japan, and MOFA with a great window of opportunity for promoting popular aspects of Japanese culture within its public diplomacy. While Japan's 'pop culture (soft power) diplomacy', has yet to cross into it's foreign policies in strengthening its diplomatic relations, it is creating a better understanding of Japan, and Japanese culture. This plays a key role in how other nations, including Japan's closest allies, such the U.S., view Japan subjectively.
ReplyDeleteHarnessing a soft power approach to create a better understanding of its culture overseas is one Japan's primary goals. As Seiichi Kondo stated in 'Wielding Soft Power', "by connecting people and organizations in various fields and levels engaged in transmitting its soft power and by offering places for their interpersonal and cross-cultural exchanges, the government should pursue the goal of enhancing the overall effects of its soft power through cooperative interaction and mutual stimulation." (p. 202). This has become a popular approach used by most nations today, including Japan. Since the late 1970s Japan embarked on cultural exchange and learning programs domestically and abroad with the creation of the Japan Foundation (1972), and Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (1978), also known as JET.
In expanding its cultural exchange initiative with its Anime Ambassadors Doraemon & Hello Kitty, or with J-pop group AKB48, Japan is utilizing cultural symbols to maintain its soft power influence worldwide. While some nations might view Japan's cultural exchanges and ambassador promotion, as positive (i.e. the U.S. and European nations), others nations might remain impartial. In the case of China and South Korea, both state governments still possess adverse feelings toward Japan, for the Japanese colonialism and attacks, which took place during the Sino-Japanese Wars and WWII. South Korea specifically, has felt that Japan has been whitewashing its past history. While, I agree that history should always be remembered and not ignored, it remains a strong issue for the Japanese government to decide. In this response, I also agree that Japanese 'pop culture' can not be a remedy for strengthening relations between Japan and neighboring countries (China and South Korea). However from the positive effects of its 'pop culture' worldwide, even amongst Chinese and Korean youth populations, Japan can certainly create an effective public diplomacy initiative for building further understanding with both state and populations abroad.