In the past, the most prevalent type of diplomacy was the traditional or classical diplomacy. It has been characterized as a direct and official communication between government officials of particular countries. In the 21st century, the nature of power has changed and the role of another type of diplomacy – public diplomacy – has been growing. Different from the traditional diplomacy, public diplomacy is an unofficial, indirect, and dialogic diplomacy, practiced by mixed coalitions of governmental, intergovernmental, and nongovernmental actors. In the international society, an increasing number of diplomats and political leaders consider public diplomacy a means for projecting a positive national image as well as for increasing their country’s cultural presence abroad. It is also exercised with the aim of building long-term relationships among states and mutual trust that establish an enabling environment for government policies.
Japan is a country that puts a great emphasis on public diplomacy. It began to exercise it since the 1860s, the period when the country started its process of modernization (Ogawa, 2009, p. 272). Some of the first public diplomacy initiatives of Japan include its participation in World Expositions as well as particular public relations activities conducted during the Russo-Japanese War. After World War II, public diplomacy was applied to transform the prewar image of Japan as a militaristic country into a harmonious and peaceful democracy. Afterwards, in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, it was exercised in order to present Japan to the world as a technologically and economically advanced nation. At present, Japan’s public diplomacy objectives evolved to include the establishment of prosperous international relations and a favorable environment for Japanese diplomacy.
Through the Public Diplomacy Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Japan Foundation, the Cabinet Office, and other organizations and agencies, Japan exercises public diplomacy initiatives to increase its cultural presence and partnership with Europe. Despite the cultural activities of various public and private actors, the perception is that Japan’s presence in Europe has not yet reached its full potential. An audit conducted by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) indicated “scarceness of Japanese soft power in Europe” (Duchâtel, 2015). The audit targeted government officials and experts of Japan in academia, media, and think tanks and aimed to study the image of Japan as a partner in nine European countries – Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Rethinking and enhancing Japan’s public diplomacy strategies is essential for achieving a higher cultural presence in Europe.
A crucial reason for the insufficient Japanese soft power in Europe has been the lack of integration among the public diplomacy actors and their initiatives. Most of the public and private actors promoting Japanese culture have been acting autonomously, without having a particular central actor to unify and facilitate their projects as well as without a common strategy. As Watanabe (2012) highlights, for a more productive public diplomacy, Japan needs “organic integration of organizations and projects”. A major actor facilitating partnerships for cooperation between Japan’s public and private institutions for cultural promotion in Europe is essential.
To provide such an integrated approach, Japan has emphasized the Cool Japan Public-Private Partnership initiative of the Cabinet Office. However, the initiative is focused mainly on promoting the Cool Japan Strategy and on strengthening collaborations among the industries in the Cool Japan fields. In addition, Cool Japan reaches out mostly to the younger generations rather than to the elite, middle-aged, or senior generations. Therefore, it is vital for Japan to work on a new approach facilitated by a Japanese public diplomacy actor with a wide network of partners, which would coordinate public-private cooperation among institutions and actors from all kind of fields and Japanese cultural spheres as well as reach a variety of generations at the same time.
In response to the above-mentioned issue, this study examines the potential of the Japan Foundation as a central public diplomacy actor in Europe, facilitating a Public-Private Partnership1 Platform for integrated initiatives among actors and institutions in charge of Japanese cultural promotion. Since its establishment in 1972, the Foundation has been playing a significant role in the dissemination of Japanese culture abroad. It has specific contributions and advantages as well. For instance, in comparison with other Japanese institutions, the Japan Foundation has the broadest network of public and private partners for cultural promotion worldwide. It works both autonomously and together with crucial actors and provides funds to individuals and organizations for the conduct of cultural projects. Considering the challenges in the financial system of Japan, spending money on multiple actors of public diplomacy may not be cost efficient. Therefore, if Japan maximizes the potential of the Japan Foundation, it would economize funds and maintain collaboration with many actors at the same time. An essential feature of the Japan Foundation is also the broad type of audience that it reaches, ranging from the younger generation to the elite, the middle-aged, and the senior generation. Another advantage of the Japan Foundation is its crucial role in the nurturing of a long-term interest towards Japanese culture abroad. Despite the current popularity of Japan worldwide, according to Watanabe (2018), “as time passes, foreign culture comes to seem ordinary and people tire of it” and “the vogue for Japan will one day reach its sell-by date”. In order to maintain a continuous interest towards Japan, it is essential to establish new cultural values and reconsider the direction of its cultural promotion policies. Japan should work to introduce its daily life and customs, philosophies, and attitudes towards life and nature and the history and origin of Japanese arts and products. In facing this challenge, the Japan Foundation is highly contributory. First, through its cultural projects abroad, the Foundation has been working to present a variety of Japanese values and cultural aspects. Second, it promotes the Japanese language, which “helps foster future leaders who will build a bridge between Japan and overseas, deepen understanding towards Japan, and lay a foundation for friendship with other countries” (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, 2017). Third, the Japan Foundation implements Japanese studies and intellectual exchange programs providing opportunities for two-way exchanges between Japan and the world. The participants are able to visit Japan, experience its culture, and develop new relationships. Through all these initiatives, the Foundation contributes to maintaining and further deepening foreign people’s long-term interest in Japan.
Some of the advantages and features of the Japan Foundation are its considerable capacity and prospects for coordinating and implementing integrated Japanese public diplomacy initiatives in Europe. By facilitating a Public-Private Partnership Platform, the Foundation could strengthen the collaborations between the public and private sectors, reach out to various generations, create a stable basis for Japan’s further relations with Europe, and compensate for the scarceness of soft power on the continent.
The purpose of this study is to analyze an integrated approach for Japanese public diplomacy in Europe through public-private partnerships. The study’s aim is also to examine the potential and limitations of the Japan Foundation as a major public diplomacy actor in charge of such a Public-Private Partnership Platform as well as to suggest a framework of recommendations concerning its future initiatives in Europe both autonomously and in collaboration with other institutions.
The observations and discussions in the study focus on two European countries: France – a country where the Japan Foundation’s office has been established, and Bulgaria – where an office of the Japan Foundation does not exist, but the Japanese Embassy has been facilitating programs of the Foundation. In order to provide a more profound analysis and recommendations for Japan’s further public diplomacy initiatives on the continent, it is essential to compare and examine Japan’s cultural promotion in countries from both Western and Eastern2 Europe, especially those that differ in terms of the existence of the Foundation’s office. Such countries are France and Bulgaria, where the Japan Foundation has been playing a great role in the introduction of various aspects of Japanese culture as well as in the creation of a positive image of the country.
The reason for focusing on France as a case study from Western Europe is the fact that Japanese culture has been promoted to a greater extent there than in other countries on the continent. As Masuda (Lavallée, 2018), emphasizes, France is more familiar with Japan than any other nation in Europe. In addition, as a former ambassador of France to Japan highlighted during his personal communication with the author of this study, “among European countries, France is certainly, culturally speaking, the most appreciated country open to Japanese cultural impact and keen to get it” (personal communication, May 12, 2019). An example of Japan’s great cultural promotion activity in France has been the Japonismes 2018 event, held in commemoration of the 160th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries. According to Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Japonismes 2018 initiative has been “Japan’s largest endeavor to share Japanese culture with the world” (Japonismes 2018, 2018).
There are three specific reasons for focusing on Bulgaria as a case study from Eastern Europe.
The first is Bulgaria’s strong and active bilateral cultural relations with Japan, which have provided and continue to provide a favorable atmosphere for Japanese cultural promotion. Bulgaria is the first Eastern European country to fall under Ottoman rule, which lasted for almost five centuries (1396–1878). There is evidence that the Japanese officer Yamazawa Seigo participated in the Russo-Turkish War for the liberation of Bulgaria in 1878 (Embassy of Japan in Bulgaria, n.d.-b). The country proclaimed its independence in 1908. Despite its dramatic history and considerably slower recovery, Bulgaria has managed to develop its cultural relationship with Japan. From the 1900s on, bilateral interactions increased, especially with the Friendship and Cultural Cooperation Agreement between the governments of Bulgaria and Japan, signed in February 1943 in Tokyo. For instance, even though it became invalid when diplomatic relations were interrupted from 1944 to 1959, as a result of the impact of the World War II, the countries maintained their intercultural interactions. In addition, in the Cold War period until its transition to a multiparty democracy and a functioning market economy in 1989, Bulgaria, as a socialist country, was not much open to cultural promotion from any capitalistic country. Despite these limitations, Bulgarian-Japanese intercultural activities continued in a broad perspective. At the time, Japanese public diplomacy played a crucial role in developing Bulgarian people’s interest in and positive image of Japan. Such an example is the 1970 World Exposition in Japan, considered a highly contributory event to the further progress of the cultural, economic, and political bilateral relations. Attended by the Bulgarian Prime Minister Todor Zhivkov, the Expo’70 exhibition made Bulgaria aware of the so-called Japanese economic miracle and its coexistence with tradition and harmony with nature as well as various aspects of Japanese culture. The event is thought to have increased the country’s interest in economic and technical collaboration with Japan. In 1975, a new agreement on cooperation in science, art, and culture between the governments of Bulgaria and Japan was signed, under which various bilateral cultural initiatives have been implemented. At the same time, public diplomacy has been accompanied by high-level bilateral dialogue on a state and governmental level.
Another example of the deep bilateral cultural ties is the fact that Bulgaria has been visited by various members of the Japanese Imperial Family. In 1979, it was visited by the Japanese Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko as official representatives of Emperor Hirohito. The visit was a significant event symbolizing the warm and friendly relations between the two countries. In the following years, Bulgaria was visited by Their Highnesses Prince and Princess Mikasa in 1987, Her Highness Princess Sayako in 1996, and Their Highnesses Prince and Princess Akishino in 2009. After their visits, the members of the Japanese Imperial Family have expressed a high interest in the Bulgarian cultural initiatives held in Japan by personally attending some of the events.
As a member of the European Union since 2007, Bulgarian cultural relations with Japan continued to develop in new dimensions. There have been various examples like the Bulgarian Sumo wrestler Kaloyan Mahlyanov (Kotooshu), who was made the Goodwill Ambassador to Japan by the European Union in 2006. This event demonstrated the recognition that Kotooshu was present in the Japanese Sumo sport not only as a Bulgarian, but also as a European representative, and the cultural relations between Bulgaria and Japan were commensurate with that between Europe and Japan (Vutova-Stefanova, 2016, p. 164). Bulgaria has also been participating in a number of joint European cultural and educational initiatives in Japan, organized by the embassies of the European Union member countries and the Delegation of the European Union to Japan. “The Golden Legend” exhibition organized in 2016 in Japan, consisting of 280 exhibits from nine European countries including Bulgaria’s ancient Thracian treasures, is a case in point.
The second reason for focusing on Bulgaria is the fact that there is much potential and a favorable atmosphere for Japanese public diplomacy, especially through public-private partnerships between the Japan Foundation and Bulgarian institutions. For instance, since the establishment of the Japanese language and studies major at the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, in cooperation with the Japan Foundation the university has been organizing a variety of Japanese language and culture promotion projects with the aim of becoming a center for the study of Japanese language and culture on the Balkans (Koleva, 2016, p. 245). One such initiative, held annually since 2012, is the Balkan Peninsula Japanese language and culture summer camp in Bulgaria, in which countries like Romania, Turkey, North Macedonia, and Serbia take part. Although there is still space for further improvement of these projects, they have been acknowledged by the Japanese language teaching community in Eastern Europe (Koleva, 2016, pp. 246–247).
The third reason is the fact that Bulgaria is a country demonstrating a strong interest in Japanese culture, but with limited opportunities for experiencing it, which provides much space for further Japanese cultural promotion initiatives (Embassy of Japan in Bulgaria, n.d.-a). Exploring the insufficient points and the future possibilities for enhancing and expanding Japan’s cultural activities in Bulgaria is crucial. In addition, the results from the study on Bulgaria could serve as a basis for any future comparative research of Japan’s public diplomacy in Eastern Europe.
Together with the reasons emphasized earlier, the author’s Bulgarian language ability, and contacts within the country, providing opportunities for a greater accessibility to a broad range of sources as well as to various experts and figures for the conduct of interviews is also essential. This enables the author to implement a more in-depth study of Japan’s public diplomacy in Bulgaria in comparison with such examination in other countries in Eastern Europe.
Starting with an introduction, the study is divided into five sections. It begins with a focus on the basic concept – public diplomacy. Certain definitions and subsets of public diplomacy, as well as its differences with traditional diplomacy, are emphasized. The next section explores Japan’s public diplomacy from the 1860s to present. It highlights the main Japanese public diplomacy actors, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japan Foundation as well as other essential institutions like the Cabinet Office and its Cool Japan Strategy. The next section investigates the Japanese cultural promotion in France and Bulgaria with a special focus on the Japan Foundation and its initiatives between the 1970s and 2018 in the following three categories: art and cultural exchange, Japanese-language education, and Japanese studies and intellectual exchange. The study examines the Foundation’s contributions and activities implemented both autonomously and in collaboration with Japanese and local public and private actors in the two countries. It also compares the Foundation’s initiatives in France and Bulgaria, highlighting both the strong and the insufficient points in terms of its cultural promotion. Based on the findings, it provides a framework of suggestions concerning the Foundation’s future projects in the areas. The next section of the study discusses the potential and limitations of the Japan Foundation for becoming Japan’s central public diplomacy actor facilitating a Public-Private Partnership Platform in Europe. Following this, the study explores essential Japanese and local public and private actors who have the potential for future cooperation with the Japan Foundation throu...
