How to cite:
Ayu Aruni, Triesanto Romulo Simanjuntak, Putri Herginasari. (2022).
Cool Japan's Role as A Japanese Public Diplomacy Strategy Through
The Asia Kakehashi Project in Indonesia. Journal Eduvest. Vol 2(8):
1.587-1.596
E-ISSN:
2775-3727
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Eduvest –Journal of Universal Studies
Volume 2 Number 8, August, 2022
p-ISSN 2775-3735-e-ISSN 2775-3727
COOL JAPAN'S ROLE AS A JAPANESE PUBLIC
DIPLOMACY STRATEGY THROUGH THE ASIA KAKEHASHI
PROJECT IN INDONESIA
Ayu Aruni
1
, Triesanto Romulo Simanjuntak
2
, Putri Herginasari
3
123
Program Studi Hubungan Internasional, Fakultas Ilmu Sosial dan Ilmu
Komunikasi, Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, Indonesia
hergianasari.putri@staff.uksw.edu
ABSTRACT
After World War II, Japan had a bad image in the international
community. The Japanese government then tried to rise by
using its public diplomacy strategy through educational
instruments, namely the student exchange program initiated
by Japanese Prime Minister Shizo Abe at the 23rd International
Conference on The Future of Asia which aims to improve
image, spread values and culture, and increase influence.
Japan in the Asian region, including in Indonesia. To achieve
this national interest, Japan uses its soft power element,
namely Japanese popular culture through Cool Japan to attract
foreign people to visit Japan, especially Asian people including
Indonesia. The influence of Cool Japan has succeeded in
improving the image of Japan as a country that is known to
preserve and spread its uniqueness and positive values in its
culture. This study uses qualitative research methods by
conducting data/information searches that rely on humans
and print media as research instruments. So in this study, we
will discuss Cool Japan as one of Japan's public diplomacy
activities to attract foreign people to visit Japan through the
Asia Kakehashi Project student exchange program. Indonesia
is one of the Asian countries appointed to send participants to
take part in the Asia Kakehashi Project in Japan to participate
in improving relations between the two countries by
participating in a series of program activities by spreading
Ayu Aruni, Triesanto Romulo Simanjuntak, Putri Herginasari
Cool Japan's Role as A Japanese Public Diplomacy Strategy Through The Asia
Kakehashi Project in Indonesia 1.588
values, understanding, experiences and positive opinions
about what they get while in Japan.
KEYWORDS
Cool Japan, Asia Kakehashi Project, Public Diplomacy,
Shinzo Abe.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
INTRODUCTION
Japan or what is often called the Sakura Country is one of the island countries
located in East Asia that has the desire to become a nation's leader in the Asian region. In
the economic field, Japan also has an important role where its per capita income and the
stability of the Japanese currency make it one of the developed countries in the Asian
region. In addition, Japan is a country that has traditional cultural values and is still very
strong today (Katzenstein, 2018).
Traditional cultural values that have been embraced by Japanese people for
hundreds of years are always developing and growing in society even in the midst of the
current era of globalization (Siddle, 2003; Yoshino, 2005). Japan adapts and reworks these
foreign values into new cultural values which later develops and is known as Japanese
Popular Culture (Iwabuchi, 2015; Sussman, 2002). Popular Culture is defined as a culture
that is liked by many people, based on this it makes popular culture a cultural product that
is produced for mass consumption. The examples of Japanese Popular culture are; cosplay,
harajuku fashion street, visual kei, anime, specialty food, dramas and films, and manga that
have long been the hallmark of this Sakura country.
The uniqueness of Japanese popular culture (Huat, 2015; Iwabuchi, 2002) is used
as an entry point by the Japanese government to start or carry out diplomacy with other
countries including Indonesia. With the introduction of cultural values by Japan, such as
through manga and anime, Japan has succeeded in giving a strong cultural impression to
people in several countries, including Indonesia. This then prompted the Japanese
government to form the Cool Japan strategy, which started with the Gross National Cool
(GNC) in 2002. The Gross National Cool (GNC) was the idea of McGray a journalist who
stated that Japan is not only an economically rich country but also culture (Darling-Wolf,
2014; Fukunaga, 2006; Moody, 2006).
GNC as a reminder that when a country is able to organize trends and commercial
products owned by the country well, it will also have a good impact on its political and
economic goals. GNC is a promising Soft Power potential for Japan to continue to take
advantage of the popularity of popular culture so that it can affect Japan's good image. Then
the strategy was used by the Japanese government to promote Japanese culture to all
corners of the world (Vogel, 2013). The Cool Japan strategy is actually a Japanese effort
whose goal is to make the international community more interested in Japanese cultural
values, starting from popular culture such as (anime and manga), films, music, drama
series, architecture, arts, crafts, design, performing arts, publishing, toys to culinary and
fashion industries, which the Japanese government is seriously working on in achieving
Cool Japan's goals (R. Dore, 2013; R. P. Dore, 2013).
Besides that, cultural cooperation is very important for Japan's national interest,
namely as a restoration of the image of the countries it once colonized (Curtis, 1999;
Toivonen, 2012). In fulfilling this national interest, one of what Japan has done is the
creation of a student exchange scholarship program initiated by Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe, namely the Asia Kakehashi Project with the aim of spreading Japanese values
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Volume 2 Number 8, August 2022
1.589 http://eduvest.greenvest.co.id
and culture as well as increasing Japan's influence in the Asian region. Indonesia as one of
the largest countries in Asia, especially Southeast Asia is also not spared from the
implementation of this program, this is also due to the abundance of young human
resources or Indonesian youths who can participate in the program and help become
representatives of Japanese values and culture in Indonesia.
At the 23rd International Conference on The Future of Asia held on 5-6 June 2017
in Tokyo, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe conveyed several important points related to steps
that must be taken for the progress of the Asian region and Japan's contribution in realizing
this. One of the points conveyed was that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe invited and
opened up opportunities for all Asian youth to come to study in Japan with the aim of
creating a prosperous Asian life and helping create Society 5.0. This opportunity will
provide an interesting experience for Asian youth and can learn a lot about culture, people's
life, values, and also the Japanese language firsthand.
The Asia Kakehashi Project is a culturally based Japanese public diplomacy effort
by providing scholarships to students in Asian countries including Indonesia to come and
study directly in Japan. While in Japan, of course, students from Asian countries will get
direct experience and exposure from life and learning in Japan. Which of course also gets
a direct experience of seeing and learning the culture, values, and customs that exist in
Japan. This situation will be used by the Japanese government to instill value.
RESEARCH METHOD
In this study, the author uses a qualitative approach based on the type of data taken
and then explained in descriptive form in order to produce a discussion that leads to
research conclusions. The qualitative approach according to Bogdan and Taylor cited by
Moleong is a research procedure which will produce descriptive data, namely written or
spoken words from people or observable behavior.
The method used emphasizes the process of searching for data/information that is
used at the time of interpretation. wholeness, relying on humans as research instruments,
utilizing qualitative methods, conducting inductive data analysis, directing the research
objectives to efforts to find theory from the base, descriptive, more concerned with process
than results, limiting studies to focus, has a specific set of criteria for check the validity of
the data, the research design is provisional, and the research results are negotiated and
mutually agreed upon.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
1. Background of the formation of Cool Japan as a Japanese public diplomacy
strategy
Cool Japan is a term used to define popular culture that belongs to Japan. Cool
Japan was first mentioned by a journalist from the United States, Douglas McGray in 2002.
The emergence of the term began when Japan came up with its products in revitalizing the
confidence of its people after the economic crisis in the 1990s. Economic competition
became very tight at that time where Korea competed by relying on its electronic products,
automotive, and steel industry, followed by the United States and China relying on its
information technology revolution. However, Japan presents something new with the
influence of its products such as Nintendo, Playstation, Doraemon, Hellokitty, Tamagochi,
Ayu Aruni, Triesanto Romulo Simanjuntak, Putri Herginasari
Cool Japan's Role as A Japanese Public Diplomacy Strategy Through The Asia
Kakehashi Project in Indonesia 1.590
and Pokemon which are getting stronger in Japanese and international society. This
phenomenon is not only popular among children but also something that attracts the
attention of all circles.
Through a Foreign Affairs article, McGray expressed his opinion when he saw the
phenomenon of Japanese popler culture which increasingly has the potential to make Japan
a country with a cultural superpower. This was also later promoted by Japan's Gross
National Cool by discussing various Japanese animated characters and comparing them
with American culture. However, Japanese culture is considered more capable of creating
new trends in the field of art and technology because it has a unique culture that is unique
and different from other countries.
Cool Japan is taken from the term "Coolness/Cool" which is used by the Japanese
government as a political jargon referring to all the unique and positive aspects of Japan.
Cool Japan itself is a strategy that is managed directly by the Japanese government.
Actually, the same term has been applied in England before, namely Cool Britain in 1967
to 1996 which was a short-term policy by the British government, but it did not get full
support from the community and did not work as expected. However, this policy inspired
Japan to adopt the same term in its own country. In the Cool Japan Proposal published by
the Cool Japan Movement Promotion Council, it is clearly written in the opening part of
the 3rd paragraph, that the inspiration for the formation of Cool Japan Strategy was from
Cool Britain.
The formation of Cool Britain by the British also had the aim of building the
country's image by utilizing the creative industries that existed at that time, but this was
slightly different from Cool Japan which focused on the development of popular culture
but still dreamed of the creative industries that existed in Japan.
The main purpose of establishing Cool Japan is as Japan's national branding in the
eyes of the world. But recently the Japanese government added another goal, namely for
economic development. The phenomenon of Japan's popular culture is becoming more
widespread and more promising, so the government has decided that the implementation
of Cool Japan is under the auspices of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
(METI). Since under the supervision of METI, the implementation of Cool Japan was then
developed to be useful as an instrument of diplomacy.
2. Implementation of Cool Japan as Japan's Soft Power
The bad image that Japan has in the eyes of the world, which is always related to
hard-power, military, and power, has made Japan more aggressive in carrying out strategies
that can change that view into a good image in the global order. Therefore, the presence of
Cool Japan is Japan's national stepping stone in changing the views of the world community
through Japanese cultural values and also encouraging the level of creativity of its people
in the international sphere. Cool Japan's concept includes all of Japan's popular culture,
such as toys, anime or manga, dramas, films, special foods, traditional culture, design
products, fashion, to technology products such as robots. (Intellectual Property Strategy
Headquarters, 2011). This popular Japanese product also has the potential to increase
economic profit for the country. The implementation of Cool Japan is a soft-power asset
owned by Japan as it has been proven that Japan's success in shaping the world view of
Japan is through popular culture. Japan's popular culture makes Cool Japan one of the
attractive assets, namely assets obtained through attraction to make other parties do what
they want, because they can reflect positive aspects about Japan.
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Graph 1.1. Percentage of Interest in Popular Japanese Products
Source: corneredangel.com/answer/paper/Japan_soft_power.pdf
The table shows that products from Japanese popular culture such as Anime and
Manga are the most favored in Asian countries that take a sample of countries with
geographical locations closest to Japan and Indonesia. This interest in Japanese culture then
influenced the increase in visits to Japan.
Soft Power owned by Japan comes from low-culture which is then spread abroad
through the implementation of Cool Japan which is categorized as the implementation of
public diplomacy by the Japanese government. In achieving this, Cool Japan must be able
to influence the public by gaining an attraction to attract foreign people to Japan and also
increase tourist visits to Japan. The main target of Cool Japan is the global community
which is a country that receives and consumes popular culture products exported from
Japan. However, the main targets in distributing their products are countries in the East
Asian region considering the distance is not too far. And developing countries in East Asia
have also received the most from Japan's elements of soft power.
Based on the soft power concept by Joseph Nye, the source of soft power in public
diplomacy efforts is to play an important role in other countries in helping to create an
attractive image of a country and this can be an opportunity to obtain the desired results.
Then, Joseph Nye explained that soft power is a power that is categorized into the scope of
cooperative power behavior or an ability that is able to influence and shape what other
parties want. One of these attractions comes from cultural elements.
Cool Japan itself is a soft power of the Japanese government where culture is the
source of its strength which involves an attraction in influencing and shaping public interest
in other countries through popular culture products owned by Japan. The public diplomacy
carried out by Japan through popular culture can be consumed by the global public from
all walks of life which is able to attract more and more world people to like anything related
to Japan and then will attract them to come and visit Japan. Various diplomatic activities
through Cool Japan show how the Japanese government's commitment that the use of soft
power is very important in an effort to encourage the country to achieve its national
interests and also strengthen ties between Japan and the global community voluntarily.
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Kakehashi Project in Indonesia 1.592
Meanwhile, the Indonesian community is one of the largest in the Southeast Asian
region which is influenced by the presence of Japanese culture. The success of Cool Japan's
influence as an instrument of Japanese diplomacy in Indonesia is also influenced by the
assumptions of the people of a receiving country towards the perpetrator country. This is
evidenced by opinion poll data conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in
Southeast Asian countries about how people think about Japanese culture.
Graph 1. 2. Opinion Poll against Japan in Indonesia
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
The graph shows how the interest of the Indonesian people towards Japanese
culture has increased significantly since 2008 - 2013 after the launch and implementation
of Cool Japan. Japanese popular culture plays an important role in the development of
tourism and economic flows in Japan. The global public's interest in Japanese culture
makes Cool Japan one of the factors that influence the increase in foreign tourist visits to
Japan.
Asia Kakehashi Project Program as an instrument of Japanese Public Diplomacy
The implementation of Cool Japan is being intensified by the government by not only
spreading it through communication media, but also involving foreign publics and their
interactions to have direct experience of Japan.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) as a representative of Japan once started
the implementation of the Japan Friendship Association Program in 2016 by implementing
Cool Japan as a form of promotion of people to people exchanges between Japan and
various countries in Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America, and Caribbean
to promote understanding of culture, history, politics, economics, education and diplomatic
relations among participants. (Cabinet Office, 2016)
The next exchange program is the Asia Kakehashi Project (AKP) which is a youth
exchange between Japan and Asian countries. The Asia Kakehashi Project is a public
diplomacy effort initiated by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the 23rd International
Conference on The Future of Asia where it was stated that in this program, around 1000
youths from the Asian region will be given the opportunity to participate in the Asia
Kakehashi Project program in brackets. 5 years (2018-2023). The Asia Kakehashi Project
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is a scholarship program from the Japanese government for high school students to bridge
intercultural understanding between Japan and countries in Asia under the Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan (MEXT). The establishment
of the Asia Kakehashi Project program has the aim of reviving the Japanese economy by
promoting international interest in Japan, increasing the number of foreign tourist visits to
Japan, promoting a global understanding of Japan's strengths both in culture and technology
as well as Japanese values embodied in Cool Japan. . (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan,
2017).
Graph 1. 3. Tourist Visits to Japan by Country/Territory Highest 2019-2022
Sumber: JNTO (Japan National Tourism Organization)
Based on the data above, after the realization of the first batch of the Asia
Kakehashi Project program in 2019, Japan experienced a significant change in the number
of tourists, mainly from Asian countries as participating countries in the Asia Kakehashi
Project program. Where from 2019-2022 countries in the Asian region contributed the
highest number of tourists. This program is proof that Japan has succeeded in spreading
positive trends to foreign tourists, which has made Japan's economy better through
increasing tourists.
Since the establishment of the Asia Kakehashi Project program, the Japanese
government has explained that this program is an instrument in the implementation of
Ayu Aruni, Triesanto Romulo Simanjuntak, Putri Herginasari
Cool Japan's Role as A Japanese Public Diplomacy Strategy Through The Asia
Kakehashi Project in Indonesia 1.594
Japanese public diplomacy, especially in Asian countries. The Japanese government is also
trying to provide detailed information about its public diplomacy and also asks for the
participation of the Japanese domestic community to contribute so that this program runs
optimally where the public will introduce Japanese culture to exchange students who later
when they return to their respective countries will become a bridge. between Japan and its
country in terms of culture, society, and country. Every year, 200 students from 20
countries in Asia are sent to study and live in Japan. These countries include Indonesia,
Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Republic of Korea, Laos, Malaysia,
Bangladesh, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Brunei,
Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka.
The name of the Asia Kakehashi Project program has a meaning that is in line with
the purpose of this program which is related to public diplomacy. The word "Kakehashi"
is taken from the Japanese language which means "Bridge". As stated by Japanese PM
Shinzo Abe at the 23rd International Conference on The Future of Asia meeting that to
create Society 5.0, AI and Big Data in Japan also teaches Japanese Style Inclusive Society
to Asian countries, there is a need for a bridge that connects Japan and other countries. the
Asian region countries.
The choice of the word Kakehashi in the Japanese public diplomacy program is
also explained on the AFS Japan website as the NGO that helps organize the program that
in this Asia Kakehashi Project the participants who take part are expected to become
bridges to strengthen relations between Japan and their home countries and are expected to
form long-term relationships. between the two countries.
During the program, students who become ambassadors of their country will study
at a local school and live with a local family called the Host Family or in a school dormitory.
That way, participants will experience firsthand how daily life, cultural values, and the
education system in Japan are. The role of the local community, especially the Host Family,
is very important to increase the positive image of the values about Japan that they apply
and show to the participants.
There are also simple themes used by the Japanese government in the Asia
Kakehashi Project program, namely in the form of the slogan "1000 Bridges Over Asia",
where this slogan is a derivative of the word "Kakehashi" which means bridge. This slogan
is a symbolic form that states that the Japanese Government is committed to creating
bridges that will be able to strengthen relations between the Japanese government and all
countries in Asia.
As initially introduced in the planning of this program in 2017 that the Japanese
Government in the next 5 years will invite up to 1000 students from Asian countries to
come to Japan to study using full scholarships. This is what makes the Japanese government
use the slogan "1000 Bridges Over Asia" with the intention that the implementation and
objectives of the Asia Kakehashi Project for the next 5 years will produce 1000 alumni
from the program who are students from Asian countries to become bridges between Japan
and other countries. origin and is expected to become 1000 bridges that span across Asia
to teach Japanese culture and values to their respective countries, and vice versa. In
addition, the 1000 alumni from the Asia Kakehashi Project can later become a bridge that
connects the different cultures, people's lives, and lifestyles between Japan and Asian
countries.
3. Implementation of the Asia Kakehashi Project program activities by participants
from Indonesia in 2018-2019
The Japanese government creates slogans or other symbolic forms that are usually
often found in political and marketing campaigns, in its public diplomacy efforts, namely
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the Asia Kakehashi Project which is in line with the objectives of the program and will
support the positive view of the world community towards the Asia Kakehashi Project
program.
The slogan was of course very attached at the beginning of the establishment of
the program as conveyed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the 23rd International
Conference on The Future of Asia that to create Society 5.0, AI and Big Data in Japan, as
well as to teach Japanese Style Inclusive Society to other countries. In Asian countries, a
bridge is needed that connects Japan and Asian countries. The term "kakehashi" as the main
slogan which is the name of this program further emphasizes that this program aims to
bridge the relationship between Japan.
Figure 1. Super Senpais Project PPA
Sumber: instagram.com/akpsupersenpais
For the first batch of Alumni Asia Kakehashi Project (2018-2019), the project they
carried out in Indonesia was to form an AKP Super Senpais community with the aim of
sharing information and interesting things related to alumni life while in Japan by providing
inspiration, motivation, and encouragement. to other young people in Indonesia to
participate in the next Asia Kakehashi Project, and also to open the Japanesse Lesson
program by inviting Indonesian youth to learn Japanese.
In addition, alumni are required to introduce the education system, cultural values,
technology, and others so that it will provide a positive image of the Indonesian people
towards Japan as contained in Cool Japan's goals as a Japanese public diplomacy strategy.
CONCLUSION
Japan's public diplomacy efforts using Cool Japan's instruments proved to be an
effective strategy in achieving the Japanese government's national interests. Through the
Asia Kakehashi Project program, the Japanese government can optimize Cool Japan's role
in its public diplomacy activities by organizing activities that involve the public from Asian
countries directly in promoting Japanese cultural values during the program until when
participants return to their home countries. .
In this case, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and
technology (MEXT), AFS Japan, and Intercultural Development implement efforts in
implementing the Asia Kakehashi Project program in Indonesia by involving participants
Ayu Aruni, Triesanto Romulo Simanjuntak, Putri Herginasari
Cool Japan's Role as A Japanese Public Diplomacy Strategy Through The Asia
Kakehashi Project in Indonesia 1.596
and alumni as actors of public diplomacy who will become bridge in establishing
cooperation between the two countries. The implementation of Japanese public diplomacy
by using Cool Japan instruments through cultural activities has succeeded in getting a
positive response by the Japanese and Indonesian people so as to be able to create positive
public opinion towards Japan and change its image as a country that has a unique culture.
The implementation of the Asia Kakehashi Project has been successfully implemented over
the past few years since it was formed in 2017 by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,
and sent 40 students from Indonesia in the first year of the program (2018-2019).
Alumni from the implementation year then carried out several projects after
returning to Indonesia through activities carried out by Bina Antar Budaya as a forum for
disseminating information about experiences related to their life while in Japan and
Japanese cultural values by providing inspiration, motivation, and encouragement to young
people. in Indonesia to participate in the next Asia Kakehashi Project and invite the public
to visit Japan.
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