Traditional and popular cultural discourses within the post-war development of Japan’s cultural diplomacy

Aurelijus Zykas

doi:10.15388/aov.2011.0.1099

Abstract

Vytautas Magnus UniversityThis paper analyses the development of post-war Japan’s cultural diplomacy since 1945, dividing it into four stages. It raises questions about what government institutions have been conducting cultural diplomacy, what the main international challenges have been, what communication tools have been used, and what kind of cultural discourses were prevalent during a particular stage. Special emphasis is put on the division of traditional versus popular cultural discourses within the cultural diplomacy of Japan, mainly concentrating on the important shift in this aspect that occurred at the beginning of the 21st century. This shift was marked by the government’s increasing shift towards popular culture discourse and the deliberate exploitation of that to promote Japan in the world.

Highlights

This paper analyses the development of post-war Japan’s cultural diplomacy since 1945, dividing it into four stages
In Japanese scholarship and practice, they are usually mixed, and even the term for public diplomacy (広報文化外交 kōhō bunka gaikō) combines both notions, kōhō being for public relations and bunka for culture
The term cultural diplomacy is used in the sense of the already classical definition proposed by a cluster of US scholars in the 1970s, defining public diplomacy as a triple structure consisting of cultural diplomacy, information sending, and international broadcasting (Gregory 2008, 275; Kitano 2007, 30‒2)

Summary

Introduction

This paper analyses the development of post-war Japan’s cultural diplomacy since 1945, dividing it into four stages. In the case of Japan, this selection is symbolised by the binary opposition of traditional and popular culture, clearly expressed in the strategic documents of the last decade and reflected by the representatives of Japanese government institutions during interviews (Zykas 2011).

Results

Conclusion