2012/05/01 by Nissim Otmazgin · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Asian Culture and Media Studies #China #Context (archaeology) #Cultural Industries and Urban Development #Cultural policy #Development economics #Diplomacy #Economics #Economy #Empire #Foreign policy #Geopolitics #History #Japanese History and Culture #Law #Political economy #Political science #Politics #Power (physics) #Promotion (chess) #Sociology #Soft power
paper · doi:10.1080/13439006.2012.678629
openalex publication_date 2012/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Japan's cultural policy and cultural diplomacy in Asia has changed dramatically over the past one hundred years, from actively introducing and imposing Japanese culture during its empire-building period, to essentially avoiding the promotion of Japanese culture in Asia for most of the postwar period due to fears of being seen once again as engaged in cultural imperialism, and more recently, to supporting and encouraging the export of Japanese contemporary culture and lifestyle in order to attain “soft power.” Looking at the fluctuations in Japan's cultural policy over these three periods allows us to understand how Japan has used cultural policy to further its geopolitical goals and more basically how it has viewed the role of “culture” in the context of its relations with Asian neighbors. In a broader sense, the Japanese experience shows that cultural policy, even when inward-looking, is not isolated from a country's geopolitical position and its ambitions in the world, regardless of the political system under which it operates.