Promoting 'Cool Japan'
(From The Japan Times August 15 issue)

国をあげて｢クール･ジャパン｣推進

Eight years have passed since American journalist Douglas McGray first coined the phrase, but now the Japanese government is getting behind "Cool Japan" in a big way. A new Creative Industries Promotion Office was established in June within the Manufacturing Industries Bureau of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to coordinate the promotion of "cultural industries" by various arms of government such as the Agency for Cultural Affairs, METI and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to the METI news release, "the government's 'New Growth Strategy' and 'Industrial Vision 2010' expect that Japan's cultural industries, such as design, animation, fashion and movies, will become a strategic sector that drives the nation's future economic growth."

Such a policy has paid off for South Korea, which has raised its national image through investing heavily in the Pusan International Film Festival, the Gwangju Biennale, their accompanying infrastructure and the fostering of creative talent. In 2007, China also adopted a national policy of promoting its soft power internationally.

The new head of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, former ambassador to Denmark Mr. Seiichi Kondo, doesn't favor the phrase "Cool Japan," but does feel that Japan can play a role in this area. Speaking to the Asahi Shimbun, he recalls his experience serving at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (1999 to 2003), whose economists felt it was their mission to spread free markets worldwide.

Mr. Kondo believes that the free market was originally a tool for increased prosperity and a richer non-material life, but that it somehow became an end in itself. A task for the 21st century is to move toward a richer spiritual life and he thinks Japan is in a unique position for that as a non-Western economic power. While a bureaucratic-led push for creativity has its problems, any soft power contribution Japan can make to the world will surely be welcomed, especially if it can also stimulate renewed self-confidence and vitality within Japan itself.

｢クール･ジャパン｣という言葉が使われ始めて8年、政府は各省庁による文化産業推進の連携を図るため、経済産業省製造産業局内に｢クール･ジャパン室｣を設立した。

デザイン、アニメ、ファッション、映画などの文化産業は「新成長戦略」と「産業ビジョン2010」において、日本の経済成長を支える戦略的分野として期待されている。

韓国政府は釜山国際映画祭や光州ビエンナーレに注力し国のイメージを高めた。中国も2007年にソフトパワー産業推進を国策に位置づけた。

前デンマーク大使の近藤誠一･文化庁長官は、自由市場は繁栄と精神的充足を得る手段だったが、手段がいつしか目的になっていったという。21世紀の課題はその精神的充足で、日本は西洋以外の経済大国という立場を生かした発信ができる。官僚主導の文化推進には問題点もあるが、ソフトパワーによる世界への貢献で日本が自信と活力を取り戻すならよいことだ。