筑波学院大学紀要第13集

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2018年＜招待論文＞The Role of Anime and Manga in Indonesia-Japan
Cultural Diplomacy
Wahyuni Kartikasari ＊Abstract
In diplomacy we recognize the term of public diplomacy. Because public diplomacy uses media
related to modern technology, then the development of communication technology also affects theforms of public diplomacy.
Meanwhile, the most familiar to the development of communication technology is the youngpeople. And one of the phenomena that are growing rapidly today among young people, is popularculture, shortly, pop culture. The Pop culture that emerging popularly in the world now such as
anime, manga and cosplay come from Japan, and that media can be used to popularize Japaneseculture and knowledge about Japan.
This paper explores how the Japanese pop culture as public diplomacy and its influence in Indonesia.
Key words: pop culture, anime, public diplomacy.

1. Diplomacy in International Relations
Diplomacy is one part of the International Relations studies. In the sense of a traditional
approach, diplomacy is understood as the art of negotiating with other countries. Diplomacy canalso be interpreted as the art of promoting national interests to the international relations or othercountries in various ways.
In diplomacy we recognize the term of public diplomacy. The international relations dictionary
mentions the definition of public diplomacy as a stateʼs attempt to influence public opinion in othercountries by using instruments such as film, cultural exchange, radio, and television. E.H. Carr
writes that the power of opinion is also important in the achievement of political objectives, just likemilitary and economic power and has close ties to both.
Public diplomacy is also known as a political instrument and has long history developed inseveral countries. Some of the goals of public diplomacy, can be mentioned as follows:
1. Increasing public knowledge about a country, in this case make them think about it, improve
the image of the community, and change their opinion about the country.
2. Increasing public appreciation of a country, in this case enhancing their positive perceptions,＊ムハマディア大学、Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta

─ 41 ─筑波学院大学紀要132018likening their opinion to the country on an issue.
3. Improving relationships with a country, in this case on the scope of education, encouraging
the people of other countries to come to a country for a vacation, study, encourage people toconsume goods from the country and so on.
Public diplomacy is used by the state, in conjunction with state and non-state actors tounderstand culture, behavior and manage the relationships, influencing opinions and actions to gaininterest.
Although not always labeled as public diplomacy, activities organized within this framework
may be cultural promotion or student exchange. For this reason we can then understand theinterrelationship of public diplomacy with cultural diplomacy. Cultural Diplomacy as part of publicdiplomacy, defined as a state effort to fight for its national interests through cultural dimensions,both micro and macro in accordance with the main characteristics, such as propaganda and othersin the conventional sense can be regarded as not political, economic or military.

2. Technology Development and The Effect for Diplomacy
The development of technology, especially information and communications technology
inevitably af fect the world of diplomacy as well. Countries should reassess their diplomacy.
Many advantages gained by international relations from the development of information andcommunication technology, especially in the process of delivering the message. Harold Nicholson
mentions that there is a tendency of “the decline of diplomacy” in which the growth anddevelopment of technology and communication causes the role and function of the ambassador todecline and diplomats decreased degree of work just as administrative staff or clerk in charge ofrecording messages and receiving telephones. From this view we understand that public roles can
not be ignored. Thus, the complexity of problems and relationships between people supported bytechnological and communications developments make public diplomacy and cultural diplomacy
more and more important and significant.
On the other hand, globalization and all its development make the internet a very common tool
used in everyday society life. With internet the problem of communication is not constrained bydistance and time. Therefore, public opinion will be very easy to build. Public opinion is the aim of
public diplomacy as well as on cultural diplomacy. Culture diplomacy itself is interpreted as a formof diplomacy that proposes the interest of the country in the international world by using culturalmedia.
The relation between cultural diplomacy and public diplomacy can be seen from 2 (two)consequences, the first is public as object, that is object of countr yʼs diplomacy. The second ispublic as the subject, the public being the subject of participation in state or government diplomacy
activities. In this case, we can connect it with multi track diplomacy. The concept of multitrack
diplomacy was initiated when it saw the condition that the government would not be able to handle
the complexity of diplomacy issues and especially foreign relations in various aspects. Therefore,
multitrack diplomacy developed 9 (nine) tracks, namely government, non-government or─ 42 ─Wahyuni Kartikasari：The Role of Anime and Manga in Indonesia-Japan Cultural Diplomacy

professionals, bussiness, citizen, research-trainning and education, advocacy, religion, funding andmedia or communication. Through multitrack diplomacy, non-government parties can be involved
and take a big role in foreign relations activities, especially in the peace building process. Multitrack
diplomacy strengthens the role of the public in the diplomacy process because in multitrack
diplomacy there are diplomacy actors other than the state, its purpose and function as well as themedia used by the actors. These media use culture as the means.
Cultural diplomacy is getting easier to get media for sociolize their activities along with theincreasing popularity of film, serial, popular culture, which are then also developing into fashion,comic, food and others. All this then known as pop culture. One pop culture that become popular isa Japanese pop culture, known as anime and manga.

3. Anime and Manga as The Phenomena of Japan Public Diplomacy and Cultural
Diplomacy
Over the past few decades, popular Japanese cultural products have been exported, traded andconsumed primarily throughout East and Southeast Asia such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore,
Thailand, Vietnam, Korea and Indonesia. Not just fashion magazines in Hong Kong originatingfrom Japan, but Japanese comic books are translated into languages such as South Korea, Thailand,Indonesia and Taiwan also. Japanese anime characters such as Doraemon, Hello Kitty, Ampan Man,Pokemon, Astro Boy, Sailor Moon, One Piece and others can be found in markets in major Asian
cities in the form of toys, school and office equipment as well as animated movies that have beentranslated into the local language.
Pokemon, the animation movie, successfully broadcast in 65 countries and translated into
30 languages. The success of this Pokemon then makes this anime as the main cover of TIME
magazine. Doraemon also became one of the anime that has a big influence. Recognizing this,Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Koumura in March 2008 named Doraemon as an anime
ambassador through the International Anime Award. The recommendation to Doraemon isthe result of the decision of the Committee of Pop-Culture Experts and the Japanese Cartoon
Association who collaborate also with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture ofJapan. Doraemon is a successful example of a creative global industry. With Doraemon crowned asanime ambassador, Komura says his hope that the world community can know the positive side ofJapan through the Japanese anime. Doraemon can go around the world and promote and introduce
Japan to the world. It is also hoped that the presence of Doraemon raises the attractiveness offoreign society towards Japan about its culture, tradition, music and technology. All this then formed
a fans community that also spread in Asia and America.
Japan used the popular culture as a means of diplomacy with the seriousness of its government
focused pop culture in one part in Diplomatic Bluebook 2004 under the name of the program “CoolJapan”. Even the monthly magazine of diplomacy published by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Gaiko Foramu (Diplomatic Forum) has a special section for articles on pop culture as adiplomacy tool in several diplomatic issues.

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To improve Japanese figures abroad, Japanʼs foreign ministr y, Ministr y of Foreign Affairs(MOFA) took the policy by organizing several programs to attract people in other countries. The
purpose of these programs is to enhance the image, enhance mutual trust and respect for theJapanese government and Japanese society. MOFA executes several programs such as the use ofJapanese pop culture to attract publications and use traditional culture, sports and also enhance
the promotion of learning Japanese. And to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of pop culture
usage, the Ministry of Japan is cooperating with Japan Foundation that have been spreaded overin several countries. One of the duties of the Japan Foundation itself is to bridge the publication ofJapanese culture with the various countries, It has been located.
Another idea gained from the phenomenon of anime and manga development is theimplementation of the World Cosplay Summit since 2003 and the International Manga Award bythe Japanese government. Cosplay, an acronym for Costume Play in Japanese called Kospure, is afashion show and costume of anime and manga characters, as well as other superheroes. Since theWorld Costume Summit is in line with the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs policy to increase
the understanding and interest of the international community towards Japan, since 2006 thegovernment has participated as a sponsor. In 2012, the International Manga Award provided an
opportunity for the winners to visit Iwate, one of the areas affected by the earthquake. This visit
gives the participants a chance to get to know Japan further.
Another phenomenon that can be shown from Japanese pop culture is the image of J-pop
through the presence of AKB48 group that has been mentioned to beat the album sales of Lady
Gaga and Justin Bieber with total domestic sales in Japan worth 200 billion US dollars. The Japanese
government sees AKB48ʼs potential as one of the public diplomacy agents and elects it as a goodwill
ambassadors to China to help ease tensions between the two countries. AKB48 also helped theJapanese government program in raising funds for Tohoku earthquake victims through the “Darekano Tame ni” project and the sale of the single album “Kaze Wa Fuiteru” as a program to invite
investors to buy bonds and ease the burden of Japanese debt.
From the above examples, we can analyze that pop culture can play an important role inJapanese international relations. There are three dimensions to this, namely economic, socialand political messages. First, the economic message. Pop culture is considered an economicproduct. Pop culture is spread all over the world as an economic product, so the first gain is profit
economically. Some people explain pop culture from an economic approach, such as the opinion
that pop culture can be used to invite foreigners to come to Japan as tourists who can advance thetourism industry. The important value here is the value of hardwork and creativity to create new
products for economic purposes.
The second role is social and cultural role. Pop culture not only provides something interesting,but also provides an opportunity to explain about Japanese culture to people abroad. Throughthis means, it is also explained about the common values of society, such as peace, brotherhoodand friendship. In this context, Japanese pop culture has two meanings, one that is charming for
economic gain and also attractive in the sense of an opportunity to welcome and accept othercultures. This pop culture provides an opportunity to cooperate, collaborate with other cultures. It is─ 44 ─Wahyuni Kartikasari：The Role of Anime and Manga in Indonesia-Japan Cultural Diplomacy

also hoped that there will be mutual understanding and mutual understanding among the countries
involved.
The third role, is the political role. Pop culture is a culture-shaped media, where this culture
is used as an element of cultural diplomacy belonging to soft power. Through soft power, all stateinterests are propose to the international world without coercion and violence. Understanding ofthe character and condition of Japan through the cultural dimension is necessary for the ease ofestablishing cooperation between countries in the world with Japan and enhancing the image ofJapan.

4. Anime and Manga Development in Indonesia
Japan is one country that is quite consistent to have cultural diplomacy with Indonesia. Aftergoing through various dynamics up and down in the number of decades, good relations between
the two countries began when Japan began to implement cooperation in the cultural sector with apolicy known as the Doctrine of Fukuda. Fukudaʼs doctrine was able to restore the confidence of thecountries in southeast Asia against Japan after the Malari incident in Indonesia that caused a bad
image of Japan.
As the world experience with the Japanese pop culture, In Indonesia, the influence of these
Japanese pop culture is also felt. The Indonesian public then became familiar with films, fashion,comics, food and others from Japan and Japanese nuances. Anime and manga figures such as
Doraemon, Hello Kitty, One Piece and others are also familiar in the ears of Indonesian society
especially among young people.
As the Japanese government aims to crown Doraemon as an anime ambassador, in IndonesiaDoraemon is also expected to help boost the positive image of Japan as well as diminish the view ofthe negative J-pop culture.
Not only in Sanghai through SNH48 and Taipei with TPE48, Akimoto Yasushi, the main
producer of AKB48 spread the AKB48 fame by establishing JKT48 in Jakar ta. In 2013, as asupporter of the creative economy program, the Ministry of Education and Creative Economy ofIndonesia and Ministr y of Education, Culture, Sports, and Science and Technology (MEXT) ofJapan held a partnership to develop the potential of AKB48 and JKT48 in various aspects.
The Japanese Culture Festival is also as an interesting attraction in Indonesia. As an annualevent, Japan Foundation held JakJapan Matsuri which utilizes pop culture as an attraction andmeans of cultural diplomacy of Japan. Matsuri itself has a meaning as a festival or celebration inJapan. In the Kyushu area, the Matsuri that takes place in the fall is called kunchi. While variousmatsuri held throughout the year in various places in Japan. Most of the Matsuri organizers are
Shinto shrines or Buddhist temples. In JakJapan Matsuri festival is displayed various Japanesecultural arts such as Bon Odori popular Japanese folk dance that has been 600tahun, yukata fashion,art, music group and famous Japanese singer and Japanese culinary.
In addition to the official institution, other Japanese festivals are also held by private parties
and the public at precise exhibitions in Indonesia. Festivals can include trade shows of Japanese─ 45 ─

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products and pop culture, as well as festivals of hobbies and communities such as Cosplay andothers. Some of them are Japan Expo, Japan Wave Expo, Japan Festival, Anime Festival Asia
Indonesia, Anime Japan 2016, Anime Festival Asia 2016, Popcon, Art and Culinary Japan, Cosplay
Show and Competiton, Japan Korea Jako Fest and others.
From the description above then we can see, that the way Indonesian young people know Japanthrough pop culture, a very familiar means in their environment. We can see that Japanese things
are popular in Indonesia. In addition to anime, manga, fashion and lifestyle, restaurants such as
Hakone Ramen, Marugami Udon, Sushi Tei, Pepper Lunch and others offering Japanese food havebegun popular in Indonesian food centers. It is easy to find Japan nuance everywhere in Indonesia.

5. ConclusionDiplomacy as a study of International Relations has many models. Among them are cultural
diplomacy as part of public diplomacy. Like public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy is an international
relations technique that relies on soft power. One of the essence of diplomacy is the process ofgetting to know each other and understand the character, characteristics and customs of eachcountry.
In the old era, the way to know a country can be through historical literature, the knowledge
gained from lessons about the countries in school and story from the parents. In modern times withthe development of advanced means of communication can facilitate the process of getting to knoweach other, the young people of the world know other countries through the internet and othermeans of communication. Young people are deeply involved with the development of communication
technology. Media such as movies, social media, facebook, instagram, twitter, youtube and others
are can be a medium of introduction or know each other.
Now, young people of the world and Indonesia in particular can know Japan further throughthe means they like and know well pop culture such as anime, manga, cosplay, harajuku style andothers. So through anime and manga, japan can introduce itself to the international world and inIndonesia in particular.
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Prentice Hall, Englewood cliffs, NJ, 1974
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Websites
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/1961-10-01/diplomacy-then-and-now
http://aoindonesia.net/archive/index.php/t-1900.html
https://www.jpf.go.jp/e/program/
http://www.mofa.go.jp/about/─ 47 ─