Public Diplomacy of Japan

Running head: PUBLIC DIPLOMACY OF JAPAN
Public Diplomacy of Japan
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1PUBLIC DIPLOMACY OF JAPAN
The article, “Japan’s Challenges in Public Diplomacy: An American Vision”
discusses about how the public diplomacy of Japan is dependent on promoting the cultural
soft power that lays emphasis on the aspects of the mass consumer along with the creative
industries. The author has pertinently talked about how public diplomacy can act as a tool
that can come to be of use in the era of global interdependence. The article talks about the
fact that Japan has multifaceted image that includes the darker sides that cannot be reconciled
with that of the overall excellent reputation.
The article discusses that Japanese government has adopted the pop-culture approach
pertaining to diplomacy to the global politics when the term, “public diplomacy” was used in
the Diplomatic Bluebook 2004. Japan could not adopt the hard power options so it took
recourse to the soft power agendas.According to Snow(2016), Japan made use of foreign aid,
cultural diplomacy along with the person-to-person exchanges as the instruments so that it
can retain its position in the world. By the end of the year 2000, Japan used to depend on the
cultural products along with the cultural diplomacy. The domestic economy had slowed
however the popular culture of Japn held the superpower status which was marked by the
increase in the demand pertaining to the modern cultural products.
Shinzo Abe adopted the new interpretation of that of Article 9 of Constitution that
allowed the country of using the right of the collective self-defense. Japan shed the pacifist
nation brand that helped it in earning the rightful place among the various countries. It has
greatly helped the country in earning the rightful place. The author has talked about the fact
that there were many Japanese politicians who did not acknowledge the atrocities that were
carried out by Japan in the Second World War. They thought that such kind of
acknowledgement would spoil the image of Japan in home and in abroad.It has been argued
by Snow(2016), that the Japanese leaders wished to present in the public diplomacy the level
of the perfection in relation to the cultural superiority. The Big Power status of Japan with the

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cultural representation is lauded across the world. It has created the vocal enemies who think
that Japan would not acknowledge the imperfections along with the past mistakes.
The article has argued that Japan is facing challenges in relation to improving
globalization of the own society. The cultural characteristics can help in explaining the
difficulty that Japan faces in conducting the own self-promotion on that of the international
scene. Japan has tried to globalize the universities and it wants to make English Language
classes available for the people so that it can be instrumental in attracting the global
marketplace of the students. This can help Japan in gaining the attention of the students from
the international arena that can pave the path for the growth of the country. The article has
brought out the fact that around 130,000 foreign students are within the country of Japan. It
has been found that around 100,000 are from the neighbouring countries of China along with
the South Korea (Snow 2016). For giving Japan a sense of the urgency, China has outranked
Japan in that of the higher education. The problem resides in the fact that there is the dearth
of that of English-language instruction. The English-language instruction can be of much
help for the students of the country that can help them in overcoming the national barriers.
The article has argued that speaking well in the public in Japan holds more negative
as compared to the positive connotation within Japan. There are a large number of proverbs
that helps in demonstrating this fact. The author has correctly pointed out to the fact that the
European or the American places higher value on the element of the good public speaking.
The author has said that Japan does not make use of the non-native enthusiasts for the aspect
of guidance. They depend on the rotating government bureaucrats for figuring out how to tell
the story of Japan. The Japanese are not confident regarding whether they like to overdo the
promotion in that of the national objectives.