LAST TIME WE TOUCHED ON JAPAN...

Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD)

We will touch on an incident that involved TICAD & the U.N Security Council. This is very important to understand the piece of Aid in our series as a soft power tool. While this is a strong soft power tool for the country, it is also a challenge for Japan.

Cultural Diplomacy

We will start here and TICAD much later.........

what is yadAH yadah?

BEFORE WE START OUR STORY....

THE PAST OF JAPAN  & CULTURAL DIPLOMACY 

Cultural Diplomacy from Japan can be a touchy subject for the Asia Pacific Region. This Japan brings back memories of “Empire” and “War”. There is no soft power in this Japan below, this is pure Hard Power and Realism. Depending on you ask, Japan has never apologised for the war.  

This tension will push Japan to go inside and not invest on Cultural Diplomacy because Japan is viewed through the lenses of this flag.
 

DOES JAPAN'S DARK CULTURAL DIPLOMACY MATTER TO AFRICA?

There are three major players in Africa from Asia: China, Japan, and South Korea. Currently, there is an unspoken competition between all three on just who can be the most influential friend for Africa but that will be addressed later with TICAD.

In 2013, there were some serious tensions brewing between China and Japan on the role of “influence” and “leadership” with ASEAN. China accused Japan for trying to “assert complete leadership” in the region. 

Just because Japan invested a tiny $1.5 billion into the ASEAN union and I forgot to mention the “soft loans” that topped over $500 million from Japan to Myanmar...... 

Japan has also made sure that with every natural disaster in the Asia Pacific region, before the U.N, International Red Cross, like this Sting song... It is first to help with recovery efforts.
 

I will touch more on ASEAN states later with this blog. The ASEAN way can also serve as a great platform for some African States. Here is a tiny bit about ASEAN.

This competitive relationship between the two is creeping into Africa. 

COOL JAPAN TO THE WEST LOOKS LIKE

However as with most things (not all), time mends and shapes everything. Japan is now known for its own unique soft power known as Cool Japan. Cool Japan was birth in the 1980’s and since then we are all trying to keep up with the cool factors of Japan. Japan is cool in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia but Africa???

COOL JAPAN & AFRICA OR YADAH...

At this point of the Water & Cassava Blog you are versed on Soft Power and Cultural Diplomacy. But if you need a refresher, just go back to any Silk Road Thursday Entry or Cassava Tuesday entry. 

AFRICA IN JAPAN POP CULTURE

SIDEBAR #1 : "SOFT CONNECTIONS" CHINA IN AFRICA.

JAPAN IN AFRICA CULTURE???

Japan does not have a strategic plan in this area for Africa.  It is a yada-yada approach! The assumption here on both sides is, in the name of TICAD all will be great. Diplomacy must be fluid and Soft influences must go both ways. Majority of African leaders suffer from forms of the colonialism disease that range from early stages to fatal stages in development, so they do not invest in their “soft influences”. They have no problem absorbing other soft influences on the behalf of aid and relief. Africa has made no efforts to work on the art and execution of niche diplomacy in Asian spaces.

Culture is an extended arm in International Relations. A successful relationship between Africa and Japan will be expected for Japan not to downplay the role of culture and identity of Africans in Japanese spaces.

BUT JAPAN HAS AFRICAN FESTIVALS...

Festivals do not count per-se, because they are just extra pluses towards the city brand. It benefits cities in Japan that have “African themed festivals”, it shows the global stage, “Japan is DIVERSE!!”.

INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS

International Relations can be best described today as Intercultural Relations. The U.S vs. West Asia is a great example on just how the lack of respect and appreciation of Intercultural Relations can bring countries to their knees.

The very definition of International Relations that is “relations with other nations” rests on the shoulders of that each country has unique traditions, social interactions, political dynamics, and intellectual orientations that make up the country. Japan must understand, with interactions towards any African country, it will go favorably if they start to pay attention to those shoulders.  

There is no fluidity in cultural diplomacy between Africa countries and Japan. This is not unique to Japan because China and Korea do not value this or have no clue on a starting point. However, this gap could be the golden ticket of applying “Cool Japan Diplomacy” to Africa. The neglect or underestimation of cultural diplomacy towards Africa by Japan hinders fluid relations but because China and Korea are guilty of this issue, Japan can use this as winning attribute to building on African Affairs.

some examples on how Japan can work on CD with Africa:

• Pop Culture
  Anime and Manga with African Myth and Folklore, Cool Japan!

• Academic
  Educational Exchanges that include professors and students from both spaces. So not just African students going to Japan for graduate studies but Japanese students and professors in Africa Academic spaces. This also means more African Professors and Deans in Japan universities that claim to teach Africa Affairs.
  

• Blue Economics (Beyond Fish)

• AgriMarketing/ Agri-Economics

• “Experimental” Tourism

  LASTLY ON CULTURAL DIPLOMACY

The new diplomatic language of the 21st century diplomat rest on:-

• Do your “friends” and "neighbors" speak and understand your cultural diplomacy?

• Does the global stage speak and understand your cultural diplomacy?

• Are you humanitarian friendly? (Later on this piece)

Cultural Diplomacy is not about countries explaining their “self” onto the global stage. It is based on Cleverness in Cultural Diplomacy. 

JAPAN HAS A MEDIA PROBLEM IN AFRICA

Japan lacks international mass media presence on the global stage to promote its image. The United States has CNN and FOX. The UK has the BBC, but do you know the name of Japan’s international broadcasting channel???

Waiting……….

The NHK network could be key to setting up stronger ties to Africa. What better way to spread your message to your new friends using their language with their faces?

P.S NHK has a KiSwahili Channel but BBC has Pidgin, Hausa and so much more. NHK needs to pick up the pace. 

We leave you with this video of African artist, Dobolo based in Japan.

See you next Silk Road Thursday!