“Soft power rises and falls based on a nation or region’s ability to attract others with the legitimacy of its policies and its underlying values,” wrote Public Diplomacy Council member Nancy Snow, now Pax Mundi Professor of Public Diplomacy at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. Her April, 2015, essay, “Global Powers of Persuasion,” appeared online in The Journal of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan.
Professor Snow briefly reviewed the public diplomacy work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japan Foundation, noted that “Japan offers no academic degree or advanced course of study in either public relations or public diplomacy,” and shared conversations with Japanese policymakers and students. For Japanese readers, she opened with some comments on U.S. Public Diplomacy. I’ve bulleted some of her remarks:
- Soft power isn’t just about pop culture (i.e. the government’s Cool Japan campaign) or cuisine (Tokyo’s many Michelin stars).