Exploring Japanese Popular Culture as a Soft Power Resource

Power and Popular Culture

Power is the ability to achieve one’s purposes or goals.1 Through the scholarship of Joseph Nye, the concept of power occupies two distinct spheres: ‘hard’ and ‘soft’. The former purports to have a coercive function through economic might or military strength. The latter is loosely defined as attractive power, resting centrally upon a state’s foreign policy, culture and political values.2 In the post-Cold War international system, soft power has risen to increasing prominence.

This essay argues that Japan does not derive soft power from its popular culture. After defining soft power, the essay assesses the attraction of Japanese cultural export to audiences. The essay gauges such attraction through a consideration of the levels of cultural export, the rise of otaku sub-culture and the increase in foreign Japanese language students. By investigating these three factors, the essay attempts to quantitatively measure evidence of attraction to Japan. However, Japanese popular culture does not provide Japan with soft power; the quantitative attraction to Japanese cultural export is not translated into active support for the Japanese state. The essay determines this conversion is hindered by the scars of militarism and the lack of moral and ethical value projection. Moreover, the paper examines Japan’s failure to acquire a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council and ascribes this to a lack of potent soft power resources. Far from granting the state soft power, Japanese popular culture fosters an attraction to a benign image of Japan as ‘cool’.

 

Defining 'Soft Power'

‘Soft power’ has eluded a competent definition. This is perplexing given the increasing role of soft power in the international system and International Relations (IR) scholarship. The role of military might, the typical indicator of state power, is slowly eroding due to the economic impact of maintaining military forces. This leads Napier to describe soft power as the “quintessential late millennium mode”.3 Broadly, soft power is synonymous with co-optive power, the attraction to one’s ideas.4 Crucial to the idea of ‘power’ is the ability to exert influence by shaping the way states act.5 Hence, a state’s attractive properties cannot be classified as power unless these features exert sufficient influence over other states.

Nye proposed the pillars of a state’s soft power are culture, political values and foreign policy.6 Certainly, these are the core beacons from which soft power can emanate from, however, it is erroneous to advance that soft power is limited to these three ideas. Any property which is attractive and exerts influence on another state’s actions, regardless of whether it falls into Nye’s three categories, should be termed as soft power. Suppose state (A) has made a technological progression (t), which state (B), a rival, wishes to adopt. Moreover, let us assume that (B)’s allies cannot develop a comparable advancement to (t) and it is within (A)’s interest to maintain stable relations with (B). Thus, for (B), (t) is an attractive commodity and engages (A) through diplomatic channels in order to attain (t). Hence, (t) represents an article of soft power; it does not coerce, but co-opts (B) to engage with (A) on the basis that (t) is attractive to (B). I would therefore argue that it is possible that states can have soft power sources outside those which Nye advanced; insofar as the potential soft power source is attractive and influences another state by co-opting it to alter its behaviour.

Whether a soft power source should be value-laden is a critical question. Given the essay’s definition, an object of soft power need not be value-laden for it to be ‘powerful’. Nonetheless, the attractiveness of a soft power resource may be augmented by the source’s implicit values; Nye stresses potent soft power sources should hold “cultural and ideological appeal”.7 In the given example, (t) represents that (A) is a technogically-advanced state. The implication is that (B), in possession of (t), would be viewed in a similar vein; hence occupying an ideological appeal, which may form the basis of (B)’s attraction to (t). As such, the essay adopts the definition of soft power as an attraction which co-opts another state into altering its behaviour in the favour of the soft power’s disseminator. This attraction is not necessarily based upon values, although implied moral-ethical standards may form the basis of, or increase, the appeal.

Judging the Attraction of the Cultural Product to Audiences

Having defined soft power, the essay considers if Japanese popular culture fulfils the first criterion of soft power: whether the soft power resource engenders attraction. Unlike foreign policy and political values, popular culture cannot be directly ascribed to the state’s governmental organs. The attraction to be considered is hence two-fold: (1) attraction to Japanese popular culture; and (2) attraction to the Japanese state. Both aspects must be present for the soft power resource to fulfil the first criterion of the established definition; (B) can only be co-opted by (A) if (B) has an attraction to (t) and (B) is drawn to engage with (A) because of that attraction.

Japanese popular culture has garnered sufficient following for the conclusion to be drawn that the cultural product is attractive to audiences. This is shown by two factors: the rise in otaku fan culture and the mass-commercialisation of anime and manga. The otaku sub-culture grew as fans expressed their appeal for anime. These fans create internet forums and organise conventions dedicated to their favourite shows. The growth in such groups has been explosive: Roland Kelts asserts that the numbers of costumed fans frequenting weekly conventions are in their thousands.8 The otaku sub-culture also encompasses “cosplay”, an activity where fans will dress in the costume of their favourite characters. However, quantifying the number of otaku is a difficult task. For instance, how do we differentiate between regular fans of anime and otaku? Although it reasonable to suggest that the existence of such a sub-culture attests to the popularity of Japanese cultural export, the complexities associated with defining otaku and the minor place it occupies in social practice means that it is not the best indicia of the attraction to Japanese cultural export.

Instead, it is highly arguable that the popularisation of Japanese cultural export is best understood through commerce; mass-commercialisation of Japanese cultural export demonstrates the allure of Japanese popular culture. The boom in capitalistic marketing in the last decade demonstrates the expansive market for Japanese cultural product among Eastern and Western audiences. Sales of anime videos and DVDs in the US alone are estimated at half-a-billion dollars.9 Kelts asserts that the total profits from Japanese cultural export are incalculable, stating “no one dares speculate the numbers for the profits of TV, merchandise or licensing.”10 As such, the large revenue Japanese cultural exports generate shows the existence of an audience which is sufficiently large to constitute a profitable market. By extension, based on the enormity of commercialisation surrounding such products, it can be suggested the audience is either a large entity or a niche entity with significant purchasing power. A breakdown of the demographic purchasing Japanese cultural product would yield a greater insight into the range of attraction. Accordingly, based on the considered factors, it can be assumed that Japanese popular cultural has generated a strong attraction among certain segments of the population. The extent to which the attraction permeates societies, both Eastern and Western, remains unclear. Nevertheless, the key question is whether Japanese pop-culture has generated attraction to the Japanese state.

Examination of the Attraction to the Japanese State

Japanese cultural export has engendered an attraction toward a benign image of the Japanese state. Japan’s role as the disseminator of video and computer games, fashion trends, anime, manga and cuisine has, Kelts states, transformed Japan into a “visual arbiter of cool.”11 This representation stimulates a yearning for Japan. Napier asserts, “rather than passively consuming […] fans were inspired to know not only more about the product, but also about its cultural origins.”12 This yearning for Japan is expressed through the numbers of students studying the Japanese language. Foreigners studying the language in 1990, the peak of the Japanese economic titan, numbered 981,407 whereas in 2003, after more than a decade of economic stagnation, the number studying Japanese had leapt to 2,356,745.13 Hence, there exists an appeal for Japan, even though its economic status is declining. This appeal, according to Lam is, “the fascination and love for anime and manga.”14 Indeed, the attraction to the image of Japan is such that marketers are no longer required to endeavour to make their products culturally ‘odourless’, the ‘Japanese’ aspect is now a core component of the allure for audiences.15

The attraction to Japan has its limitations. The distinction between attraction to Japan’s ‘cool’ image and attraction for the Japanese state restricts the operation of Japan’s popular culture as soft power. Attraction to Japan’s image does readily translate to similar appeal to Japanese foreign policy. Similarly, allure to the values of justice, liberty and democracy may not result in support of the US. The linchpin of attraction to a soft power resource is the resource must engender some support for the disseminating state; (B) must be attracted to (t) insofar as it is willing to bilaterally/multilaterally deal with (A). Thus, Japan’s popular culture must win the support of those states it wishes to co-opt.

For Japan, the barriers to gaining requisite support are the scars of militarism and the cultural product’s absence of values. In East Asia, where Japanese cultural product is consumed more eagerly than in the West, Japan’s imperial ambitions and wartime conduct continue to create animosity with its nearest neighbours.16 Lam identifies “without historical reconciliation with China and South Korea, Japan is unlikely to win the hearts and minds of the Chinese and Korean people, notwithstanding the appeal of its comics and cartoons.”17 The essay stated previously that values implicit in soft power resources can increase the appeal of the resource, and by extension, the appeal of the state. Japanese popular culture possesses no value-based properties. Groot identifies this as a central problem for the effectiveness of Japanese soft power.18 While the aforementioned definition argued that implied moral and ethical values were not necessary for a soft power resource to be attractive, it is likely that Japan will need to project such values to overcome the barrier of its past. This should not be a difficult task. Mulgan believes Japan symbolises “an economic development model, a global civilian power […] and […] Asian democracy.”19 For Japan state to be preponderant in soft power, it must seek to enshrine values in its soft power resources as a method to overcome its imperialist past. Thus, Japanese popular culture has generated an attraction to its cultural exports and a benign image of ‘cool’ Japan. However, there is a failure to convert this attraction to support for the Japanese state.