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Cool Japan (クールジャパン, Kūru Japan) refers to the aspects of Japanese culture that non-Japanese people perceive as "cool". After the success of "Cool Britannia," the Japanese government started using the phrase. The Cool Japan strategy is part of Japan's overall brand strategy, aiming to disseminate Japan's attractiveness and allure to the world. The target of Cool Japan "encompasses everything from games, manga, anime, and other forms of content, fashion, commercial products, Japanese cuisine, and traditional culture to robots, eco-friendly technologies, and other high-tech industrial products".[1][2]
Due to the combination of its failures in World War 2 and its aggressive imperial history, Japan was forced by circumstances, specifically the United States, to alter its approach to global diplomacy. Under Article 9, Japan was no longer able to employ hard power through its military. As a result, it cultivated and pioneered soft power as its approach to its position on the global stage. In this, Japan was forced to figure out how to go about in security, aid, and leadership, starting with reinventing their image and rebuilding their negative reputation. Japan's "Cool Japan" Initiative was a major cornerstone of its soft power policy and greatly contributed to their reintegration into regional and global leadership.[3]
Cool Japan has been described as a form of soft power,[4][5] with the ability to "indirectly influence behavior or interests through cultural or ideological means".[6][7]
- ^ Cool Japan Strategy Public-Private Collaboration Initiative, Cool Japan Strategy Promotion Council, Cabinet Office, 2015, https://www.cao.go.jp/cool_japan/english/pdf/published_document2.pdf
- ^ "Cool Japan Initiative" (PDF). Intellectual Property Headquarters, Cabinet Office. 2020.
- ^ Walker, Joshua (24 October 2023). "Soft Power and Japan's role in a complex world". The Japan Times.
- ^ Groot, G. (2018). Cool Japan Versus the China Threat: Does Japan’s Popular Culture Success Mean More Soft Power?. Japanese language and soft power in Asia, 15-41.
- ^ Iwabuchi, K. (2015). Pop-culture diplomacy in Japan: Soft power, nation branding and the question of ‘international cultural exchange’. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 21(4), 419-432.
- ^ Yano, Christine R. (2009). "Wink on Pink: Interpreting Japanese Cute as It Grabs Global Headlines". The Journal of Asian Studies. 68 (3): 681–688 [683]. doi:10.1017/s0021911809990015.
- ^ Nagata, Kazuaki, Exporting culture via 'Cool Japan' Archived 7 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine, The Japan Times, 15 May 2012, p. 3