Really? The Cool Japan Policy

 Four years ago, when I was employed as chairman of the government’s intellectual property division, a pillar of our mission was to promote the “Cool Japan” policy. With manga, anime, and games at the core of pop culture, this also involved fashion, food, traditional crafts, sightseeing, and anything else that could display Japan’s economic and cultural “soft power.” In particular, our mission was to promote Japan in the international marketplace.

 However, our efforts fell short. The rest of the world didn’t rank Japan very highly. Economically, the content production was shrinking rather than growing, and the birthplace of anime was seen as a miserable place. Young people overseas see “Japan” not as Sony or Toyota, but as Pikachu and Doraemon, and this soft power had not been put to use diplomatically.

  The idea for “Cool Japan” policy came from an essay written 10 years earlier by Douglas McGray called “Japan’s Gross National Cool.” Joseph Nye, a professor at Harvard University, also called on Japan to utilize her pop culture to exert soft power. So the idea wasn’t born of Japan realizing the importance of its pop culture, but rather from overseas.

  Prime Minster Abe, in addition to using the intellectual property division, also formed a “Cool Japan Promotion Council” to promote Japan’s soft power. Nearly 20 years after the idea that “content” was recognized as an important policy genre, the government finally went into high gear.

 However, they had to be careful of falling into the trap of introducing old-fashioned things like kabuki, flower arrangement, and folk songs. The government recognized that danger and formed a pop culture subcommittee meeting tasked with demonstration the strengths of Japan.

  I was employed as the chair of that committee, where we compiled recommendations to “Let Japanese Pop Culture Fly!” The keywords were “together,” “connection,” and “raise.”

We put in place three policies. The short-term goal was to “participate,” the mid-term goal was “fusion,” and the long-term goal was “cultivation.”

 The internet contains many languages. As a place to share information it could almost be called “holy ground.” It can produce first-rate creators and producers. It can enable children to express themselves creatively through pop culture, and can make it possible for anyone to create anime and music. These are the goals of the policy. In particular, they want it to be a process undertaken by everyone, and not just something spearheaded by the government.

  As for whether or not this will become a concrete part of the growth strategy? That will depend upon the level of commitment of the government.