Japan should intensify its cultural diplomacy

Takeshi Nakajima

　The international community is now searching for a new post-Cold War international order, and, in this context, Japan's diplomatic efforts to create and maintain a stable and peaceful international environment is becoming increasingly important so as to preserve Japan's present economic survival and prosperity. This means that Japan should focus on and take appropriate action against other major powers that may challenge its vital national interest. For example, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, is a serious threat to international peace today, and Japan should urgently and actively promote arms control measures and other appropriate action that are conducive to solving this problem.
　In what way, then, should Japan promote international peace and stability? Japan must exercise strong leadership to achieve its own diplomatic goals, and, at the same time, must be capable of appealing to international public opinion, that is currently heavily influenced by the American and European media. When we look at Japan's diplomacy in the past century, however, we see that these two important elements are largely lacking. We also find that Tokyo's diplomatic blueprints up till now were an honest replica of its protector, the United States, because Japan's decision-making in foreign policy was under the strong influence of that country. Accordingly, the Japanese people, in general, seemingly became somewhat indifferent towards the possibility of having its proper diplomatic strategy or of protecting its national interests chiefly on its own. As a result, Japan did not and actually could not achieve its diplomatic goals when its national interest conflicted with those of the United States.

　One good example of the defeat of Japan's diplomacy is its failure to cope with the international anti-whaling campaign successfully, which exerted strong influences from the 1960's to the 1980's. When the International Whale Fishing Control Treaty had first taken effect, and the International Whaling Commission (IWC) created in 1946, most parties to this treaty did fished and killed whales in order to produce whale oil. The IWC then was, in effect, a cartel of whaling nations. For instance, today, the United States and the United Kingdom are both working actively in order to stop whale fishing. They were, then, the two major countries that took a large number of whales to make whale oil. After whale oil was replaced by a newly invented substitute in the 1960's, these two nations quickly became leading nations of the anti-whaling campaign. As a result, the IWC was transformed into an anti-whaling organization. With the support of a growing public opinion for environment protection, the United States succeeded in passing a resolution to recommend the prohibition of whaling at the United Nations Environment　Conference in Stockholm in 1972. This was a great shock to Tokyo. Before the voting took place, everyone thought that most nations would not support the American proposal. But this was not the case. Because of this resolution, the anti-whaling campaign rapidly gained strength within international public opinion. This, in turn, made Japan's diplomatic efforts to check the anti-whaling movement more difficult. In 1982, the IWC resolved to institute a moratorium on the hunting of whales, and, more recently in 1988, Japan finally was compelled by the Commission to ban commercial whaling.

　Why, then, did Japan lose? The answers to this question can be found by looking more closely into the whaling case. These answers show the weak points of Japan's current diplomacy.

　The first reason for defeat can be explained by Japan neglect to foster greater mutual understanding by engaging more in international cultural exchange activities. The international community did not understand why Japan's culture allowed the eating of whale meat. Rather, agitated by the ecology groups, international public opinion criticized Japan and this aspect of its culture as immoral and barbaric. Most Western countries held the view that the whale was a gentle and intelligent mammal that can be likened very much to human beings and that it is a poor victim of environmental destruction. The anti-whaling campaigners in the developed nations had a biased view of the eating habits as seen in Japanese culture. The result was that the Japanese delegation to the Stockholm Conference could not convince the anti-whaling nations that whale meat consumption was an aged-old custom in Japan and that this was neither immoral nor barbaric.
It is well known that killing and eating a highly intelligent animal is considered barbaric in the West. Whales, of course, are not as intelligent as human beings. There is no scientific evidence to support such an argument. In the Western culture, however, each animal is ranked downwards beginning from the ones closest to God to finally the most savage among them. In all this, human beings are of a special category and whales are located next to the top end of the hierarchy. On the other hand, the Japanese value system tells us that humans and animals do not form a hierarchy. They are at the same rank, and the relations between them can be defined as an interdependent relationship.
This means that the international dispute over whaling had the aspect of a emotionally charged argument between Western and Japanese value systems. There are more countries that share Western values than those which support Japanese value judgements. Furthermore, Japan did not make good efforts to explain itself well. Japan was finally forced to give up and do away with its traditional eating habit.

　The second reason is the lack of information coming out from Tokyo, that could appeal to and eventually change the international public opinion against whaling. Japan still does not have sufficient means to convince and change the international public opinion today. For example, the United States and the United Kingdom have their own worldwide TV news networks, that is to say, the CNN and the BBC. Of course, these two broadcasting companies are not under the tight control of their respective government in terms of what they should carry on air. However, both of them give news and provide information which are reflecting their country's value systems. This helps Washington and London greatly. In fact, these worldwide news networks are agents that instigate and help the formulation of international public opinion, since they have a great influence over decision-makers worldwide. Short wave radio broadcasts like the Voice of America and BBC radio also help to make international public opinion.
　In sharp contrast, Japan's global broadcasting efforts are definitely poor. Actually, in Japan, there is no TV station providing worldwide broadcasting 24 hours a day. Of course, NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, has some TV and radio programs for foreign countries. For example, the "NHK World TV" is a global satellite channel that is broadcasting 18 hours a day. Since this service aims at Japanese audiences living abroad, however, most of the programs are a rebroadcast of what is available in domestic channels, and it contains only 75 minutes of English news programs. Furthermore, this channel was inaugurated only in 1998. Radio Japan, a short wave radio broadcast by NHK, is doing a little better: Launched in 1935, Radio Japan provides radio programs about Japan in 22 different languages, and has a global network. Most of these programs, however, are for 1 to 3 hours a day, and, of course, they are not so famous as the Voice of America and the BBC.

　The third reason for Japan's failure is the fact that, because of the shortcomings mentioned earlier and for other reasons as well, countries were not willing to support Japan very strongly. When the IWC resolved to establish a moratorium on the hunting of whales, most of the countries that supported this proposal were non-whaling nations. Actually, these nations became a member of the IWC by the United States' strong request and backing. The American strategy was to affiliate the non-whaling nations because they tended to support anti-whaling proposals. This made the United States easier to exert influence in the IWC. This also meant that the United States had both the political and cultural power to make other countries act as what Washington wanted. These countries are still many, and they are a strong support for the conduct of U.S. diplomacy.
　On the other hand, it is still next to impossible for Japan to make this kind of achievement. It can be said that this is no more than what Japan deserves. As I referred to earlier, until the Cold War was over, there was no other choice for Tokyo but to keep the same course as Washington did in terms of foreign policy. Japan and the Japanese did not need to build a separate strategy of their own or to persuade other nation to pay attention to Japan's proposals. This is why only a few number of foreign country care about what the Japanese delegation says in an international meeting.

　With the circumstances mentioned earlier, we can now clearly see where the problem lies. A stronger Japanese leadership in the international community as well as greater support for Japan's position in the international public opinion will only result from an intensification of Japan's own cultural diplomacy. This cultural diplomacy includes a higher level of international cultural exchange and more efficient dissemination about Japan.

　Then, what kind of solutions to better Japan's cultural diplomacy required? Three major ideas can be pointed out.

　The first area is the promotion of Japanese language overseas. Learning a foreign language means learning its culture and values. A greater understanding in terms of language means a larger exchange in terms of culture. For example, France has been promoting their own language, French, by their worldwide language school network called "Alliance Francaise", which includes 318,000 students and 1060 schools in 140 different countries. Their aim is to supply the needs of those who want to lean French, and also to expand their cultural value. In fact, as Japan became a significant economic power, the number of those wanting to learn Japanese rapidly increased. Since Japan, however, was not overly enthusiastic about enlarging the Japanese speaking population in the world quickly, there is not yet a systematic language course to teach Japanese as a foreign language. Also, there are not enough inexpensive and easy textbooks and dictionaries for foreign students. And the most serious problem is that there are only a limited number of schools teaching Japanese in the world. Japan should solve these problems urgently and take a more vigorous stance toward the propagation of its own language globally, so as to increase the number of Japanese speakers worldwide.

　The second area is cultural exchange in a wide variety of areas, ranging from the performing and visual arts, the exchange of scholars, teachers, community leaders and youths to an active interchange of ideas and opinions among opinion-leaders, policy-makers and think-tanks. And to carry out these programs, we need more culture centers and branch offices of the Japan Foundation, the corporation owned by the government covering the cultural exchange of Japan. They have in fact, only 18 overseas branch offices and 317 personnel in all over the world, while the British Council, an agency of the United Kingdom for cultural exchange, maintains 197 overseas branch offices and 5450 personnel altogether. In these circumstances, it is now an obvious fact that Japan has been outdone by western advanced nations in terms of cultural exchange, and that it is the very area that is needed to be strengthened.

　The third area is public broadcasting. What are we to wait for some time when the latest information and communication technologies are already at our hands? We must create a global broadcasting network and provide the world with accurate information about Japan. And, we must watch the International media and provide them with correct information whenever there is a need, so as to prevail on the international public opinion to make them consent to our position, or even create a new public opinion. Homepages in the computer network is also an important means to convince the international public opinion, and Japan is doing not so bad in this area. However, it is insufficient to lead and to make move the whole world since most of homepages of the Japanese administration and Japanese embassies are written only in Japanese and English. In addition, it goes without saying that the short wave radio broadcasting must be enriched too, in terms of quality and quantity.

　Since we are living in a post Cold War period, which means we are free from an acute antagonism towards Communists nations, Japan is now required to stand on their own feet. So, to be relatively independent from the United States within the current security alliance, and to gain both strong leadership and capability to appeal international public opinion in order to achieve its diplomatic goal, Japan should intensify its cultural diplomacy.

Takeshi Nakajima (university student)

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©KENSHOKAI/Takeshi Nakajima 1998 All Rights Reserved.