Effects of traditional and popular cultural elements in Japanese public diplomacy

Development of communication technologies and the decrease in the need for hard power have increased the importance of soft power and public diplomacy in international relations. Japan has made a name for public diplomacy through cultural exchange practices and has conducted public diplomacy since the beginning of modern Japan's Meiji Restoration. Japan, that pursued an imperialist expansion policy in East Asia during the Second World War, planted the seeds of hatred that inhabited its soft power even today. Having defeated World War II, Japan has embarked on a new and planned public diplomacy path to rid its militarist identity and support its economic development. Furthermore, Japan has begun to use traditional culture as an effective means of public diplomacy and has aimed to introduce a colorful Japanese identity to the world. For this reason, Japan has developed programs of cultural diplomacy and cultural exchange, supported the economies of developing countries, created funds to protect the world's cultural heritage, established public diplomacy institutions and commissions. By the 2000s, Japanese public diplomacy added to its inventory another powerful weapon called popular culture. With the spread of Japanese popular culture all over the world, especially in East Asia in the 90s, its power to attract young people was recognized and increased its effectiveness in Japanese public diplomacy with the takeover of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Hence, Japan uses traditional and popular culture to create a culture industry, solve past problems with its neighbors, and actively use it to create a peaceful image of Japan.