Welcome to my page!

Nice to meet you!

2022.09.08

Starting from Ieyasu and ending with Yoshinobu, the Tokugawa shoguns lasts more than 200 years in Japan’s history, which draws my attention to this unique governance structure, especially on how Tokugawa shoguns can master the political power for this long.

Based on the reading material, the Tokugawa State, I believe two reasons bear to mention.

First, it’s the existence of the daimyo. At the beginning of Tokugawa house, shoguns have the full control of daimyo military power by a series of regulations. For example, in 1915, each vassal was only allowed to own one castle in each domain, and the daimyo needs to swear allegiance to him (Marius, 2000). Among these regulations, the Code for the Military House is the core of bakufu control.

The second factor is samurai. Back to those days, Japan had a political system similar to feudal Europe, in which samurai could own a small fief, under which the samurai was in charge of the peasants who cultivated the land and collected taxes to subsidize their various military activities (Hu & Du, 2020). However, the life of being a samurai is not easy. Even the top of the Tawara samurai was suffered from poverty, let alone the bottom level of samurai, which lays the groundwork for future’s revolt.

Definitely, I couldn’t list all reasons of the stability of Tokugawa shoguns within a few paragraphs. There are some other elements such as the geographical edge advantage counting as the key causes. Meanwhile, the end of Tokugawa state raised alarm bells that any revolutions have to adapt to status quo to succeed. If the ruler always wants to reinforce his own power at the sacrifice of his people, he will be left behind by them and distinguish eventually. From here, we know the explosion of Curtain Movement is not by accident.

2022.09.16

Japan's Meiji Restoration is a top-down capitalist nature of the overall westernization and modernization reform movement. It can be said that the Meiji Restoration involved a very wide range of contents, including politics, economy, culture, military, education and other aspects. Among all these aspects, economic development is most fascinating to me.

It is hard not to start with the Matsukata Deflation. In the early Meiji period, the government ordered a comprehensive production survey, hoping to find some kind of plan to develop the economy. But unequal treaties limit Japan's ability to protect new domestic industries. So, the only way to relieve the bubble economy pain is austerity. These deflationary policies seriously affected the interests of small farmers and many of them went bankrupt. Therefore, Matsukata Deflation brought about a lot of resistance and skepticism. However, in terms of economic rationality, the process transferred assets to the government or banking systems, making power and wealth more centralized politically. From my perspective, I believe this is a meaningful step to the formation of the modern state. The centralized power gives the government a better leverage to manage the economy and implement tax reformation. In turn, the stronger economy will push the whole country to a new level, which leads to an upward spiral cycle of development.

Another attractive point is the rise of conglomerates and how Japan's chaebols monopolized the market. Companies such as Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, and Yasuda are famous in today's Japan. As an international student, I have Mitsui Sumitomo and Mitsubishi bank cards. Both companies have excellent service, but I'm surprised they've been around for so long. But on the other hand, the collusion of the chaebols has hindered Japan's democratization process to a certain extent.

Besides the economy, other aspects like the culture were essential in the Meiji Era. Like a butterfly that needs to break out of its cocoon to enter a new life, all transformations are controversial and painful. We should under history with full respect.

Reference:

Marius B. Jansen. “The Making of Modern Japan”, Harvard University Press. 2000.

2022.09.23

The Taisho era lasted only 15 years, which may seem unsurprising in terms of time, but the freshness and changes that accompanied the parliamentary Taisho democracy movement were palpable. According to the reading materials, the new changes of the Taisho era, I think there are so many aspects worth mentioning. But there is one essence running through the whole period: the “Taisho Democracy” is sweeping across all areas of culture with distinctive modernity. Whether it’s in urban or rural areas, a new middle class has gradually formed, which advocates the establishment of individualism and rationalism.

One of the biggest changes came from education. The education level of the new Japan was much higher than before. The four-year compulsory education and higher education were popularized. At the same time, 20th-century activism entered the campus, which caused Japanese academic circles to become more interested in philosophy. However, under the bright appearance of youth, the pain and pressure that follow cannot be ignored. In 1903, a promising student committed suicide, and the information left before his death proved the anxiety, which is a sign that more students, especially those in special colleges and universities, began to pay attention to personal identity and development issues.

Let’s shift the attention to the term taishu (mass). I was enlightened by Minami's explanation: mass is used to refer both to mass production and consumption and to consumers. After the Russo-Japanese war, Japan experienced industry reformation, which stimulates the development of urbanization and the demand for entertainment and recreation from office workers. In short, a mass consumption society has been preliminarily forming. However, it is so wrong to think the Japanese fully absorbed foreign products or western culture. For instance, western suits are not traditional Japanese culture, but the Japanese can make suits for the shape of Oriental people after absorbing, digesting, and integrating into their own culture.

As Saburo Iyonaga said, “culture consists of three aspects: the function of creation, the function of making and the function of enjoying. All three are closely linked, yet somehow separate.”

Reference:

1. Silverberg, Miriam. "By Way of a Preface: Defining Erotic Grotesque Nonsense". Erotic Grotesque Nonsense: The Mass Culture of Japanese Modern Times, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007, pp. xv-xvi.

2. Ning, Liu. “Japan in Taisho Era: Most cultural, most connection to the current China”, Pengpai News, May 2015.

3. Marius B. Jansen. “The Making of Modern Japan”, Harvard University Press. 2000.

2022.09.30

Great job! But don't forget to incorporate properly formatted in-text citations - that will allow your readers to know when your sources were used and in what way

Thank you professor, I will try to do better for my blog.

In the Lesson 10 (Barbara Greene, 10.6.2022), Professor Greene introduces us to the chapter on imperialism, mainly about Japan's imperialism and conflicts with neighboring countries or regions in the process. The one that left the deepest impression on me was the war between Japan and Taiwan.

The origin of Japan-Taiwan War has a long history. Simply put, Japan is relatively close to Taiwan geographically, and Taiwan has a lot of resources with favorable natural conditions. Japanese pirates frequently harass Taiwan. Besides, the Japanese government is also trying to seize formal control of Taiwan from the locals or China.

According to the introduction of Outcasts of empire Japan’s rule on Taiwan’s “savage border” (Barclay, 2018), "Successive, overlapping instances of positive and negative patterns of state power contributed to the formation of modern indigenous political identities prior to the colonization of Taiwan, a process that paralleled other contemporaneous formations in the crucible of foreign occupation. The nationalist awakening is parallel."

The readings also argue that "empires are best understood as successors to other empires, and that postcolonialism does not resolve itself into a world of sovereign nation-states based on pre-colonial borders." This depicts me a clearer picture on Japanese imperialism, saying the imperialism brought "native modernity" to Japan.

During the long period of Japanese rule, Taiwan became one of the important sources of Japan's economic growth and made progress in many aspects such as infrastructure, transportation, and public health level (Barbara Greene, 10.6.2022). However, from Barclay's perspective, whether it’s land tax reform or focus on public health, Japan’s intention was to improve Taiwan’s national power, not the individual wealth or health, and then Japan will be more competitive in international arena, which leads to the sacrifice of the underclass (Barclay, 2018).

Reference:

1. Barclay, P. D. (2018). Empires and Indigenous Peoples, Global Transformation and the Limits of International Society. In Outcasts of empire Japan's rule on Taiwan's "savage border," 1874-1945 (pp. 1–40). Introduction, University of California Press.

2. Barbara Greene, (2022, October 6), Lesson 10 Topic #4-Imperialism. In Comparative Culture. https://moodle.tiu.ac.jp/mod/resource/view.php?id=319259

Over 70 words in this post were quotations! At 289 words within the post itself, this meant your actual writing fell well under the 250-word minimum D:

You also need to cite an external source, outside of the assigned readings and lecture materials.

I am sorry professor. Thank you for let me know about it. I will try to do better for my blog and notice these problems next time.

2022.10.07

Compared with Korea, Japan's colonial rule in Taiwan was more severe, mainly reflected in the leadership structure of the colonial government and the rights of the local people (Li, 2015). In Taiwan, the governor not only holds the supreme executive power but also the military commander, but in Korea, the governor does not have the leadership of the military. In Korea, local governments have the right to elect their officials, which Taiwan does not, and in terms of leadership composition, Koreans were able to hold a wider range of offices under the colonial system than Taiwanese citizens. In addition, Taiwan is far more authoritarian than Korea in terms of justice and speech control. According to the definition of colonial space (Yong Chool Ha, 2012), from my perspective, Taiwan was treated as the Colonial Superstructural Space (CSuS), in which Japan try to micromanage every aspect of Taiwan in a high intensity way. While for Korea, it was governed as the Colonial Functional Space (CFS), the compulsive economy and education policy are implemented and reformed, but the inherent culture was retained in a relatively flexible way.

Now let’s shift to an interesting question here: why does Japan treat its two colonies, Taiwan and Korea, so differently? I think there are several reasons. First of all, Korea has a long history and deep-rooted culture. Japan colonialized Korea by occupying the whole sovereign country rather than dividing the colonial areas like Taiwan, so Koreans were able to keep most their cultural identity (Barbara Greene, 10.13.2022). As for Taiwan, its original ruling order was not very stable since history, which provided an opportunity for Japan to promote its fully colonial despotism. Secondly, as Japan's first overseas colony, Taiwan has always been taken seriously by the Japanese authorities, hoping to manage it prudently and properly, and set a good colonial example to the world. Therefore, the control of Taiwan is particularly strict.

Even though these two colonies were treated differently, we can tell the importance of respect the inherent cultural independence to avoid any major conflicts.

Reference:

1. UNIV OF WASHINGTON Press. (2012). Colonial rule and social change in Korea, 1910-1945; ed. by Yong-Chool ha.

2. Li, R. (2015). Study on Japan's territorial Expansion and Colonial Policy Since Modern Times. Fudan University, (2015).

3. Barbara Greene, (2022, October 13), Lesson 11 Topic #4-Imperialism. In Comparative Culture.

https://moodle.tiu.ac.jp/mod/resource/view.php?id=320976

2022.10.14

The failure of February 26 revolt in Japan is a turning point of Japan’s Fascism (Marius, 2000). Since then, with the disappearance of factional fighting within the government and the establishment of a new imperial headquarters, modern Japan has gradually transformed from a constitutional monarchy into a fascist state. Why did modern Japan go down the path of fascist militarism? From my perspective, it can be mainly analyzed from two aspects: one is its geopolitical background, the other is the orientation of its political culture.

First, after the success of Meiji Restoration, although Japan was in the leading position of capitalism in Asia, due to its narrow territory, lack of resources and narrow market, it was difficult to satisfy the impulse of capital expansion and finally chose the road of militaristic expansion by invading other countries (Zhang, 1996). Therefore, it is urgent to demonstrate and explore the rationality of Japan's policy of aggression and expansion culturally. The trend of returning to ancient times grew rapidly, nationalism, and Japanese supremacism rose rapidly, and the impulse of cultural expansion emerged, which became a psychological and cultural factor leading Japan to fascist militarism.

The other aspect is the orientation of its political culture, which comes from two types of inherent ideology. The first is its particular imperial ‘divinity’ claimed by Hirata (Ward, 2014). It advocates the university of the Japanese spirits, depicting a picture of “perfect the Japanese nation to serve Asian culture and world-culture of man” (Ward, 2014). The second is the clarification of “kokutai” triggered by Minobe Incident. For example, the publication of The Essence of the National Polity (Monbusho, 1937). This reflects that Japan after Meiji, although covered with the cloak of capitalism, has a strong feudal color. There is no doubt that these two types of ideology played a major role in propelling Japan down the path of fascist militarism.

Reference:

1. Marius B. Jansen. “The Making of Modern Japan”, Harvard University Press. 2000.

2. Monbusho, ed., 1937. Kokutai no Hongi: the cardinal principles of the national entity of Japan. Trans. John Owen Gauntlett. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1949.

3. Zhang, S. (1996). On the Cultural Origin and Flow of Japanese Fascism. Ynlib.cn; Renmin University of China. http://rdbk1.ynlib.cn:6251/qw/Paper/46511

2022.10.21

This week's content is very interesting.

Following in the footsteps of Professor Barbara Greene, we were in lesson 14 (Barbara Greene, 10.24.2022), and we learned about fascism in Japan. Professor Barbara Greene told us about the reuse of engineers in Japan in the fascist era. Japan believes that by cultivating more engineers, the country can quickly transform into a modern and powerful country. Japan also believes that people's lives can be improved through engineers.

However, Japanese fascism to me seems to be another story. As a Chinese, I often hear people talking about the terrifying combat capability and execution of the Japanese military during World War II. I want to explore the reasons.

According to Lanlan Ma (2019), “In the 1930s, Japanese leaders cultivated a group of "revolutionary youth" through assertion, repetition, and contagion, and incited them to participate in right-wing terrorist incidents.” Similar to textbook revision that I learned from the reading “Making Splendid Little Citizens” (Yamashita, 2017), this was an essential tool utilized by Japan government to train fascist soldiers and to brainwash the Japanese nationals at that time. The Japanese consider allegiance to the emperor to be the supreme honor, and they even believe that it is right and proper to dedicate one's life to the emperor. A person who is not afraid of death will naturally have no worries. I think this should be one of the reasons why Japanese militarism is so powerful.

In lesson 15 (Barbara Greene, 10.27.2022), we learned about cultural fusion, the influence of colonists on colonies, and more. This is very interesting. Taiwan has been ruled by Japan for a long time. Through this content, I understand the influence of Japan on modern Taiwan, including Taiwan's democracy. But why did it develop to a system different from mainland China? I believe one of the reasons comes from Japan's long-term rule, which is inseparable to influence Taiwan’s culture locally.

Finally, I would like to express my thoughts on reading 1 in Topic 5. During the war against China, Japan, under the influence of fascism, committed crimes that cannot be forgiven by the world, such as the Nanjing Incident. On one hand, Chiang Kai-shek's transition from a policy of appeasement in the face of Japanese aggression to a full-scale resistance has seriously hindered Japan's advance of the war in China. On the other hand, it also accelerated the disintegration of Japanese fascism.

Reference:

1. Ma, Lanlan. 2019. The mass psychology of the right-wing movement in Japan in the 1930s. World History.

2. Barbara Greene, (2022, October 24), Lesson 14 Topic #5 – Imperial Fascism and the Pacific War. In Comparative Culture. https://moodle.tiu.ac.jp/mod/resource/view.php?id=324420.

3. Samuel Hideo Yamashita. 2017. Daily Life in Wartime Japan 1940-1945.

2022.10.28

Lesson 17 (Barbara Greene, 11.7.2022) mentioned a key person in Japan’s history: Yoshida Shigeru, who was recognized as the “greatest figure in Japan of the twentieth century” and his governance was known as “Yoshida Era” (Tipton, 2002). After this lesson with reading material, I start to have a systematic review of both Yoshida Shigeru and his era.

At the first beginning, I totally disagree with his governance concepts in which he remained hostile to left-wing political forces such as the communist party and he tried to sacrifice part of Japan’s sovereignty in exchange for the alliance with United States. Therefore, I don’t really understand why he was recognized as the greatest figure until I dig into the historical context and his accomplishments after WWII. We should not only evaluate a politician from our own political and national standpoint, but also restore him to the era in which he lived and acted. So, what was Shigeru Yoshida's era? What was the status of Japanese society at that time?

Shigeru Yoshida became prime minister after the end of WWII. At that time, Japan faced two major problems: one was the total defeat and occupation by the U.S. army, with all the power of the Japanese government under the leadership of the Allied General Command; the other was the economic collapse, with the industrial production index only equal to the pre-war level (1935-1937) of 8.7% (Chi & Zhang, 1989).In view of this, Yoshida decided on an economy construction centered policy with subordinating the U.S.

His political ideas of maintaining the national structure and promoting the national Shinto during the post-war reconstruction of Japan can be regarded as the natural reflection force of Japan’s civilization. His policy focus on relying on the U.S. to ensure national security, using external forces to revive Japan's economy, and accepting the western democratic political system has strong features of realism. Therefore, his political concepts were generated under both internal and external pressures in the special historical environment of the post-war Japanese society when the original internal political culture collapsed, and the external Western civilization fully entered.

References:

1. Tipton, Elise K. Modern Japan: A Social and Political History. Routledge, 2002.

2. Chi, Yuanji, and Xianchun Zhang. Japan's Economy. People's Publishing House, 1989. Page 60.

3. Barbara Greene, (November 7, 2022), Lesson 17 Topic #7-The 1950s. In Comparative Culture. https://moodle.tiu.ac.jp/course/view.php?id=7891

2022.11.11

The “Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath” photo from Lecture 19 (Barbara Greene, 11.14.2022) draws my attention at the first glance. I was so obsessed by this picture and want to learn more about the story behind it, which is the mirror reflecting the severely adverse health issued brought by Minamata Disease, one of the four big pollution diseases in Japan’s history.

To understand this disease, let’s zoom in to this area Minamata first. Minamata was a peaceful place with rich marine resources, where human and nature live in harmony and respect each other. And this idea of symbiosis between Minamata residents and nature is rooted in the original belief of Japanese that everything has spirit, and they can obtain power from the nature of everything (Li, 2021). But what changed this?

After the Meiji restoration, Japan embarked the road of modernization, leading the substantive economic development and technology innovation undoubtedly, but also the side effect of economic supremacy-the Minamata disease. Literally, as the first disease caused by environmental pollutants entering the food chain in human history, it indicates both environmental and social problems. Ironically, the Chisso factory didn’t stop producing methylmercury until 1968, which was 15 years later after the first case of Minamata disease. I cannot stop thinking the question, “How did Chisso factory arrive at this small, largely impoverished fishing community of Minamata” (Walker, 2011)?

In my opinion, the Minamata disease incident is a mirror of modern society. In the past society, the blind development of enterprises and disorderly competition led to a series of serious consequences: the surrounding environment and coastal fisheries were destroyed, many residents paid a heavy price for their lives, and thousands of victims not only suffered lifelong illness, but also endured various social prejudices and discrimination. These social consequences are thought-provoking. What is the meaning of the development of modern industrial civilization at the cost of destroying the environment? Nowadays, we barely survive from the COVID19 pandemic, but the Japanese government is insisting on releasing nuclear waste water into the ocean. It’s time to think how to learn to live in harmony with nature, as our ancestors do.

Reference:

1. Walker, B. L. (2011). In The toxic archipelago: A history of industrial disease in Japan. essay, University of Washington Press.

2. Barbara Greene, (November 14, 2022), Lesson 19 Topic #8-The Postwar Resurgence. In Comparative Culture. https://moodle.tiu.ac.jp/course/view.php?id=7891

3. Li, W. (2021). Anecological Elegy for the Voiceless: Reflections on Paradise in the Sea of Sorrow: Our Minamata Disease. Journal of Southeast University, 23(5). https://doi.org/10.13916/j.cnki.issn1671-511x.2021.05.013

2022.11.18

Lesson 21 ((Barbara Greene, 11.21.2022) mentioned an attractive concept: the Japanese Economic Miracle. As we all know, Japan, as an island country, has a small land area and often faces earthquake disasters. However, just under such resource conditions, Japan, a defeated country in the Second World War, rose rapidly in a short time and once became the second largest economy in the world, and made great achievements in economic construction. Undoubtedly, there are many reasons for the success of Japanese economy. But I believe that Japanese national culture plays an important role in promoting the development of Japanese economy.

Frist, the openness of Japanese culture enables it to actively absorb the excellent cultures of other countries and achieve rapid development at the same time. In the long-term development process, Japanese culture also has the characteristics of diversification. Japanese cultural elements include not only Chinese culture, Korean culture, and Indian culture, but also many western cultures, such as European culture and American culture. In addition to its openness, Japanese culture is also characterized by subjectivity, that is, it cultivates its unique culture and thoughts while absorbing other cultures. Take the spirit of Japanese corporatism for example. Inside Japanese companies, employees care a lot about relationships. Even in today's society, the Japanese approach to interpersonal relations is influenced by the Confucian idea of the "five permanent changes" (Jiao, 2016).

Lastly, in Japanese companies, great importance is attached to the cultivation of enterprise group spirit. The spirit of enterprise group provides powerful spiritual impetus for the development of Japanese enterprises. With the rapid development of economic globalization, individualism is in vogue. The staff of many enterprises are relatively lack of team spirit. The reason why Japanese enterprises maintain strong market competitiveness in the fierce global market is mainly through the establishment of corporate spirit. Japan advocates the collectivism thought of Confucian culture, and takes this thought as the guiding ideology in enterprise management, which helps Japanese enterprises to establish a good corporate culture.

The formation of these Japanese cultures is significant to the establishment of Japanese Economic Miracle.

Reference:

1. Barbara Greene, (November 21, 2022), Lesson 21 Topic #8-The Postwar Resurgence. In Comparative Culture. https://moodle.tiu.ac.jp/course/view.php?id=7891

2. Jiao, Shumei. “The Cultural Source of Japan's Economic Rise After the War.” Culture View, 2016.

2022.11.25

When I first hear the "Aum Shinrikyo" from Lesson 22 (Barbara Greene, 11.25.2022), it’s too ridiculous to believe it’s true. The cult carried out planned group crimes, such as murder, and established a "government organization system", threatening to overthrow the current government and replace it, and to break the existing social order and establish a new one. Why did people have religion belief on a cult that makes no sense? But after I learn the grounded theory from the reading material and try to use this theory to explain the root cause and social background behind this, I start to have a better understanding of Aum’s evolution.

According to the reading material “The impact of the lost decade on advertising in Japan”, the grounded theory aims to disclose the related conditions, and more importantly, to determine how the actors react to changing conditions and action consequences accordingly (Okazaki & Mueller, 2011). So, what are the related conditions? There are few things bear to mention.

First, the Japan was in the middle of what we called “the lost decade”. Even though this is a term referred to the economic recession, I do believe people’s mind got lost too. During the economic recession, Japanese society is full of dissatisfaction and resentment, especially after the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, making the future of the shaken people feel even more bleak. This is the niche that Amu kicked in. Their aim appealed to the marginalized youth of the time, and they incited confrontation by tapping into their feelings of dissatisfaction with the social reality and their inability to get out of it. In a sense, religious mind-numbing is like the popular healing method of mental relaxation. This event is not simply a matter of religious belief, but a side reflection of the mood of pessimism and confusion in the Japanese society. Particularly, many young elites, as the mainstay of Japan's future society, actively join "Aum Shinrikyo", which shows the profound influence of spiritual emptiness and anxiety in urgent need of change.

Reference:

1. Okazaki, Shintaro, and Barbara Mueller. “The Impact of the Lost Decade on Advertising in Japan.” International Journal of Advertising 30, no. 2 (2011): 205–32. https://doi.org/10.2501/ija-30-2-205-232.

2. Barbara Greene, (November 21, 2022), Lesson 21 Topic #8-The Postwar Resurgence. In Comparative Culture. https://moodle.tiu.ac.jp/course/view.php?id=7891

3. Huang, Xiaobo. “Japan's ‘Lost Decades’: A Survey from the Perspective of Cultural Sociology.” Foreign Language and Culture Review, 2021.

2022.12.01

Lesson 23 (Barbara Greene, 11.28.2022) mentioned a term “lifetime employment” that I want to analyze in this blog. The lifetime employment system was formed in Japan mainly because employers believed that keeping the labor force stable was beneficial to the development of the enterprise. The stability of the labor force is consistent with the employees' conscious commitment to the enterprise, which can ensure that the enterprise can get a return on its investment in staff training, thus reducing various costs due to the continuous firing and rehiring. The lifetime employment system is based on sustained high economic growth. But from the early 1990s, Japan's economy was trapped to a 20-year lost period. Under the impact of the economic crisis, Japan's labor relations got into difficulties mainly manifested as that the lifetime employment system was seriously damaged.

During the lost decades, the lifetime employment has been significantly weakened. It has not gone away, but it is now limited to a much smaller number of core employees, the technical and managerial talents who are important and hard to replace. Thus, although lifetime employment has not disappeared in Japan, it is no longer a popular employment system, and labor relations in Japan have undergone a historic transformation. As lifetime employment has weakened, a large number of atypical or informal workers have emerged in Japan. The large use of informal employment can help company to adapt to the economic cycle of other countries. When crises in other countries affect Japanese companies, it is easier to lay off atypical workers. This shows that Japanese entrepreneurs no longer regard employee loyalty as the premise of enterprise survival and development, but pay more attention to labor cost and market flexibility.

With the practical transformation of lifetime employment system, labor relations in Japan have undergone great changes and are still in the process of transformation. The transformation of labor relations in Japan shows that even the system, which has played a great positive role in the past, must be transformed according to the changes in the international and domestic economic environment to ensure the sustainability of economic development.

Reference:

1. Gonghang Zhang. “The Dilemma and Transition of Japan’s Labor Relations.” Journal of China Institute of Industrial Relations, 28, no. 5 (2014): 73–76.

2. Barbara Greene, (November 28, 2022), Lesson 23 Topic #9-The Lost Decade to the Present. In Comparative Culture. https://moodle.tiu.ac.jp/course/view.php?id=7891

2022.12.09

Lesson 26 (Barbara Greene, 12.8.2022) mentioned the Cool Japan Program that I want to share more thought here. Personally, I am a big fan of Japanese cartoon and comics. However, the influence brought by this program is more profound from two aspects. First, from the perspective of economy, most of Japan's "cool Japan" industries, such as animation, TV, film, games and publishing, have achieved good results and achieved significant growth recently. Moreover, with the support of Japanese government policies and funds, the overseas expansion of "Cool Japan" products has also made great achievements, and "Cool Japan" cultural products have attracted more and more attention from people all over the world. The world's largest JAPAN EXPO in Paris, for example, grew from 3,600 visitors in 2001 to about 210,000 in 2012. It has become a new driving force for the development of Japanese economy through the combination of consumption industry and tourism industry, which is essential for improving the long-term depressed Japanese economy.

Second, "Cool Japan" strategy is an important means for Japan to maintain its own cultural security. Cultural security is hidden in the deepest part of national security, once it exists, it is difficult to change significantly, firmly guarding the bottom line of security. By developing the "cool Japan" industry, the Japanese government can enhance the cultural identity of its citizens and integrate the state power. Externally, it can export cultural products, improve the understanding and identification of Japanese culture among people around the world, and establish public awareness in favor of Japan, so as to change from passive to active and effectively defend the cultural security of Japan. As far as international relations are concerned, cultural relations have become an indispensable aspect of international relations. In the process of overseas dissemination of "Cool Japan" products, Japan is not only praised as a major exporter of cultural products, but more profoundly, it spreads the international image of "cultural Japan" to the whole world, enhances the international community's understanding of Japan, and lays a foundation for the development of Japan's overall foreign policy, especially its policy in the Asia-Pacific region.

Reference:

1. Ruchun Bai & Yongliang Tan. “The Cool Japan Strategy and Its Impact.” International Forum, 17, no. 1 (2015): 62–67.

2. Barbara Greene, (December 8, 2022), Lesson 26 Topic #9-The Lost Decade to the Present. In Comparative Culture. https://moodle.tiu.ac.jp/course/view.php?id=7891

2022.12.16