Japanese Soft Power and Public Diplomacy

YCAPS & the Sasakawa Peace Foundation are excited to announce the next event in the Community Conversations seminar series in the Iwakuni Community! This event will feature Dr. Yasushi Watanabe of Keio University, who will guide us in a discussion on Japanese soft power and public diplomacy.

Amidst the flux of the rule-based world order, Japan’s public diplomacy, which relies solely on its cultural uniqueness, is inadequate. Professor Yasushi Watanabe of Keio University proposes new principles for an age where the diplomatic sphere is expanding from reality-shaping to agenda-setting and rulemaking. In this presentation, Professor Watanabe reviews the trajectory of and possibilities.

This event is free and open to all in the Iwakuni and surrounding communities. Food and drinks will be provided.

Registration (optional) at this Google form. 

Schedule:

• 17:45-18:30 - Refreshments & Networking (food & drinks)
• 18:30-19:45 - Presentation and Q&A
• 19:45-20:00 - Post-Event Conversing

Location:

Atago Sports Complex - Culture Center: 2nd Floor Multi-Purpose Room

2 Chome Atagomachi, Iwakuni, Yamaguchi 740-0037

https://www.city.iwakuni.lg.jp/soshiki/19/28779.html

Google Maps

Speaker:

Professor Watanabe Yasushi is Professor of Public Diplomacy at the Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University. Before joining Keio University, he was awarded a PhD in Social Anthropology from Harvard University and undertook post-doctoral research at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford. He was previously a Fellow at Downing College, University of Cambridge in 2007, a Visiting Professor at Sciences Po in 2013, a Japan Scholar at the Wilson Center, and a Visiting Scholar at Peking University and the College of Europe in 2018. He has served on the Advisory Panel at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Japan Foundation, the International House of Japan, NHK Woold, and the Salzburg Global Seminar. His books (in English) include the co-edited volume Soft Power Superpowers: Cultural and National Assets of Japan and the United States (2008) and the edited volume Handbook of Cultural Security (2018).

Format: This event will be off-the-record

Registration: Optional at this link
Moderators: Jeff Mazziotta

Co-Sponsor: Sasakawa Peace Foundation
Seminar Cost: Free of charge