Conference Report
International Symposium

Cultural Communication—New Communication Tools and theFuture of International Relations
December 12, 2013, at the Japanese-German Center Berlin
By Lorenz Denninger, Freie Universitaet Berlin

On Thursday, December 12, 2013 the Japanese-German Center Berlin (JDZB) and the JapanFoundation(JF)jointlyhostedtheinternational

symposium

titled“CulturalCommunication—New Communication Tools and the Future of International Relations.” In
three sessions the symposium aimed at clarifying how the rapid and global spread of thenew and evolving electronic communication tools and styles, often labeled ”new” or ”social”
media, is changing international politics and diplomacy. Furthermore, the opportunities andrisks involving the new media tools’ application in cultural and political diplomacy werediscussed in depth, focusing particularly on the case of Japan and Germany.
The Symposium started with opening remarks by Dr. Friederike Bosse, Secretary General ofthe Japanese-German Center Berlin, and Tokiko Kiyota, Director of the Japan Cultural
Institute in Cologne. Dr. Bosse stressed that the new shapes and tools of (inter-)culturalcommunication, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc., already have had a profound impact
on global politics and societies. Furthermore, Dr. Bosse argued that the new media tools
harbor both great opportunities and risks. The new methods and styles of communication
follow different rules and logics. For instance, they are much harder to suppress or censure,therefore making them apt tools for communication out of governments’ reach intotalitarian regimes. Concluding, Dr. Bosse emphasized the general importance ofinternational cultural communication today. It is, therefore, important to have a close lookat how cultural communication has already changed and continues to change against thebackdrop of the ongoing digital revolution. It is of high significance to understand who the1actors are that are using new communication means, and how and for what ends the newmedia tools can be utilized.
Ms. Kiyota reaffirmed the important role of new media and pointed out that so far they haveplayed a sometimes rather unexpected role, whether during periods of political change orother events such as severe natural catastrophes. The new media contain risks that are hard
to manage, and yet it is of great importance to use them in a meaningful and responsible
fashion. This poses large challenges to politicians and governments. Ms. Kiyota stressed thatfor Japan and Germany, both countries with great political power as well as a highly
developed IT infrastructure, it is of great importance to meet these challenges.
After the welcome remarks the first session titled ”Changing Media and Changing
Communication Style” began. It was chaired by Anja Türkan (Research Fellow ”Digital
Diplomacy” in the program “Culture and Foreign Policy,” Institute for Foreign Cultural
Relations [ifa]). Speakers were Prof. Dr. Alexander Görke (Freie Universitaet Berlin) and Mr.
Hirotsugu Aida (Kyodo News). In his lecture Prof. Görke, Professor for Communication
Science, examined to what extent the many hopes and promises applied to the new media’s
rise have been coming true. After presenting several utopian expectations voiced at thedawn of the Web 2.0—e.g. the new media leading to expanded global cooperation andparticipation, and thus to a general advance of global equality and democracy—Prof. Görke
explained that these expectations have been met only sporadically. However, the newmedia’s quick growth has strongly influenced the composition of the media market andsubsequently the media’s general role in society. Firstly, the new media’s success did notnecessarily boost the quality of news coverage and, secondly, it came at the expense of the
traditional media’s prevalence and financial success, especially of the print sector.
Furthermore, the rise of the new media has caused novel media behavior. Especially young
people often engage in ”connective action,” i.e. short-term, risk-free digital collaboration on
specific issues. This, however, does not equal the much hoped for ideal of the well-informed,concerned and politically active citizen who concertedly pushes ahead global democracy.
Thus, in spite of the unbroken and continuing euphoria about the new media’s
opportunities, several associated myths, especially about its role in development of global
democracy, must be treated cautiously.
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In the session’s second lecture, Mr. Aida, a columnist for Kyodo News, gave an overview ofthe distinctive shapes and roles of the new and traditional media in Japan. Firstly, Mr. Aida
explained that when it comes to news coverage, the new media are generally still viewed
very skeptically in Japan. However, occasionally important news stories ”broke” via new
media tools, for example the boat collision incident involving a Japanese Coast Guard patrol
boat and a Chinese fishing vessel in 2010. In this case, a video by a Coast Guard serviceman
leaked via YouTube made the story public. Furthermore, Mr. Aida described the way, inwhich new media take distinctive shapes in Japan, often being localized and resemblingversions of globally known new media vanguards such as Facebook & co. Some media types,
however, are particular to Japan, especially in terms of their huge prevalence and success.
An example is the Internet message board 2-Channel, the most widely used electronic
communication platform in Japan. Interestingly, there are examples on how the new media
have transformed traditional media, especially in television. For instance, internet users can
now comment in real time on press conferences streamed online by mainstream media—atechnical feature adopted from the social media platform Niconico. However, Mr. Aida
stressed that the traditional media in the news business, i.e. newspaper and television,
remain relatively unfazed by the new media’s steady rise. He put this down to Japanese
media consumers being still skeptical with regard to new media, especially when it comes tothe accuracy of news coverage. Nonetheless, Mr. Aida argued, it is likely that the stronger
financial pressures become for the traditional media, the more they will rely on or copy
styles and tools of the new media.
The second session focusing on ”New Communication Tools and International Relations” waschaired by Mr. Aida. Speakers were Prof. Dr. Yasushi Watanabe, Professor for Cultural
Anthropology from Keio University, and Ambassador Dr. Heinrich Kreft, Deputy Director
General for International Academic and Educational Relations and Dialog among Civilizations
from the German Federal Foreign Office. Prof. Watanabe gave further illuminating examples
of how the new media have influenced and changed political events (e.g. protests in Iran2009), diffused power relation by dissipating monopolized information and created globallyshared (pop-)cultural experience like the ”Gangnam Style” dance. The rapid rise of the newmedia, Prof. Watanabe argued, offers promising opportunities for political participation,international diplomacy, and flow of information. The new media provide tools for direct3communication between politicians and public; they make real-time diplomacy possible; andthey provide new sources of information and images, to name just a few of their positivefeatures. Prof. Watanabe furthermore pointed out the advantages of accessing online
educational programs and creating common educational experience, for example throughjoint university classes in different countries via real-time video transmission. These allowed
for mutual understanding and trust about the respective cultures to be built. However, thenew media also contain some problems and risks. For instance, Prof. Watanabe pointed out
the ”paradox of plenty” i.e. a scattering of interests that might eventually lead to only littleattention being focused on issues of high importance.
Next, Dr. Kreft outlined how the Federal Foreign Office views and utilizes the new media in
its official Cultural Relations and Education Policy. Even though they contain some risks,spread and usage of the new media are welcomed and encouraged by the Federal Foreign
Office. That is, Dr. Kreft argued, because the new media offer promising tools forintercultural exchange in a world that closes its ranks temporally and spatially. However,challenges in the new cultural tools’ diplomatic utilization remain. For instance, governments
are struggling to make their voices heard and to deliver distinctive and clear messages within
the plurality of communication in the digital world. The internet has changed not only themeans of communication, but also its contents. All political developments andcommunication processes have greatly accelerated, leading to increased complexities andtime pressure for decision-making. However, Dr. Kreft emphasized the new media’s
opportunities for Germany’s Cultural Relations and Education Policy. The newcommunication tools, Dr. Kreft argued, contribute greatly to enhance international mutual
understanding and to dismantle misunderstandings; they are useful instruments for thetransfer of democratic values and norms and make communication with civil society actors
in other countries possible. Overall, they help to increase the range and scope of German
foreign policy and thus offer a great chance for cultural diplomacy.
The third and final session under the heading of ”Social Media and Diversifying Actors” waschaired by Prof. Görke. Speakers were Ms. Anja Türkan (Research Fellow ”Digital Diplomacy”
in the program “Culture and Foreign Policy,” Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations [ifa]) andProf. Masahiko Shoji from the International University of Japan. Ms. Türkan outlined how4

social media have already changed practice and style of diplomacy. Twitter, Facebook andother social networks, she argued, constitute powerful and increasingly employed tools ininternational diplomacy. Social media, Ms. Türkan discussed, supply politicians with tools tocommunicate directly and interactively with the public. This way, politicians can better
inform the publics about actual goals and try to gain people’s support. Ms. Türkan presented
several examples of the way social media already have changed and continue to changeinternational diplomacy. For instance, the U.S. State Department massively engages in”Digital Diplomacy” or “eDiplomacy,” with Twitter and Facebook being establishedcommunication tools for all U.S. diplomats. However, Ms. Türkan also pointed out inherent
risks of social media’s political application: a plethora of real-time, unfiltered comments bydiplomats increase the risks of posting statements that could lead to politicalmisunderstanding and even international crises. The language on Twitter & co., Ms. Türkan
cautioned, requires much political and cultural sensibility.
In the session’s second lecture, Prof. Shoji presented his findings on a comparative analysis
of Japanese and Chinese citizens’ protests and communicative behavior during politicalcrises between the two countries. More specifically, Prof. Shoji examined how protesters
and internet users had voiced their opinion during the Japanese-Chinese diplomatic crises of2005, 2010, and 2012 respectively. Interestingly, the basic patterns of behavior among
Japanese and Chinese reversed in that period. While in 2005 and 2010 Japanese reacted
rather calmly and sometimes even in an ironical way towards the fierce and often hatefulcomments in the Chinese media and the ubiquitous images of violent street protests, in2012 serious anti-Chinese demonstrations accompanied by the display of hateful slogans
erupted in Japan for the first time. On the Chinese side, anti-Japanese protests and online
comments by Chinese citizens showed a serious attitude in 2005 and 2010. In 2012,
however, protests often lacked seriousness and even contained humorous elements. Prof.
Shoji attributes this to a rising ”learning curve” of cultural understanding about Japan on theChinese side. In this regard, Prof. Shoji pointed out the growing importance ofcommunication efforts of transnational cultural actors like the Chinese blogger Michael Anti,
the Japanese commentator and columnist Yoshikazu Kato and even unlikely cultural actors
like the Japanese adult movie star Sora Aoi, who all use the internet and other digital media
tools to deepen mutual cultural understanding.
5During the final discussion the speakers agreed that generally speaking the new media tools
offer great opportunities for cultural and political communication as well as international
diplomacy. However, they also advised to practice caution on making simplified crosscultural generalizations about their application and effectiveness. In this regard, Ms. Türkan
argued that in order to understand how to use new media tools, it is also important to beattentive to the different characteristics and settings of different countries’ respective media
systems. Prof. Shoji further underlined the call for attention to cultural backgrounds bypointing out that not only on an international level, but even within each country, different
social and status groups use the new media tools differently. Therefore, in order to better
understand general patterns of the new media’s global usage, he called for further
examination of their diverse applications by different actors, on a national as well asinternational level.
The symposium provided useful insight into the new media’s global rise. The new digitalcommunication tools and styles have already shown a profound impact on our world. Bytransforming media markets and communication behavior on a global scale they haveeffectively changed fundamental structures of modern information societies. What’s more,they are transforming political processes and international diplomacy. And even though thepolitical application of Facebook, Twitter & co. contains some risks, the new digitalcommunication tools offer great opportunities for more political and social interaction as
well as participation, more access to information, transparency and direct democracy.
However, the symposium also showed that even in the digital age cultural communicationand its tools follow the logics and rules of the distinctive cultural patterns of respective
nations. This was particularly pronounced on the Japanese side.

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