Taking Pop Culture Seriously
When I start speaking about manga, in my case I find it pretty hard to stop, and I am going to force myself to move on here to the topic of what exactly diplomacy entails. First of all, I would like you to rid yourselves of any stereotypes that diplomacy means diplomats sitting around having dry, rarefied discussions with each other and classified, hush-hush negotiations.
What is the image that pops into someonefs mind when they hear the name gJapanh? Is it a bright and positive image? Warm? Cool? The more these kinds of positive images pop up in a personfs mind, the easier it becomes for Japan to get its views across over the long term. In other words, Japanese diplomacy is able to keep edging forward, bit by bit, and bring about better and better outcomes as a result.
Generally speaking, Japan has had a rather good track record in this area throughout history. Tea ceremony, for example, has always been coupled with the culture of Zen Buddhism, and even now it is receiving a significant amount of attention. You can say the same about Kabuki or Bunraku. Even if you have only a stereotypical, single-pattern image of Japan as being the land of Fujiyama and geisha, it is clear that there is nothing aggressive within that image at all\it is a very peaceful image.
So for this reason, in Poland and other countries\and this is something I heard directly from the Polish Foreign Minister the other day\when people hear the word gJapan,h words such as gthe cherry blossoms in bloomh automatically pop up in their minds, like a set phrase of sorts. Now if we are to say that foreign relations between Japan and Poland are going well, we would have to say that part of that stems from the fact that underlying our relationship is a positive image of Japanese culture.
So as we continue to get the word out on Japanfs truly splendid traditional culture, and we are very fortunate that in addition to the items of Noh drama and Bunraku, tea ceremony and flower arranging, Japan also boasts many newer forms of culture that have a high degree of appeal.
This would be pop culture, including anime, music, and fashion among others, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is really going all out to gmarketh this, so to speak.
I believe most of you know the manga InuYasha. But you might not know that there is a Polish version of InuYasha.
Now I have to admit that I myself did not know this until the other day, when the Polish Foreign Minister presented me with a copy. Itfs a powerful example of just how far Japanese manga have come to be known around the world. I think we can safely say that any kind of cultural diplomacy that fails to take advantage of pop culture is not really worthy of being called gcultural diplomacy.h