Foreign Policy Research Institute A Nation Must Think Before it Acts Japan in Asia: A Hard Case for Soft Power

Japan in Asia: A Hard Case for Soft Power

The concept of ‘‘soft power’’—defined by Joe Nye as ‘‘the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than through coercion’’ — has proven a seductive one for Japan. Since the concept was popularized in the 1990s, Japanese scholars and policymakers have enthusiastically taken it up, eagerly exploring how Japan’s soft power resources could be exploited to burnish Japan’s image in the world and help reshape its environment in subtle but important ways. Some—perhaps encouraged by the new attention given to the popularity of Japanese anime and manga, and by the general buzz about ‘‘Cool Japan’’—have even described Japan as a ‘‘Soft Power Superpower.’’ It sometimes seemed, in more overheated moments, that Pokemon and Sailor Moon would conquer the world, succeeding where the Imperial Army and Navy had failed.

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