Elements of Credible Cultural Diplomacy: "Landmarks of New York" in Tokyo

In: The Fletcher forum of world affairs, Band 32, Heft 3, S. 75-82

Abstract

In 2006, as Cultural Attache at the United States Embassy in Tokyo, I oversaw a major cultural diplomacy project that bore out the utility of this metaphor. The project serves as a case study of the structural elements -- or building blocks -- for credible cultural diplomacy in this age of social networking, Al Jazeera, & the Starbucks-ization of the planet. The indispensable role of public diplomacy officers in the field is today, as it always has been, the keystone of our edifice of engagement with foreign publics. The context for my work in Tokyo from 2002 to 2006 was the maturing of the U.S-Japan relationship. State Department polling conducted post-9/11 showed that Japanese public sentiment toward the U.S. was slowly but steadily worsening. We were particularly concerned that the decline was greatest among younger, well-educated Japanese -- the emerging opinion leaders -- too many of whom displayed a kind of cultural disdain, a belief that American culture itself was decadent & even harmful to the world. Adapted from the source document.