Reinventing and Branding Japan

Course Description

Summary

After the World War II, Japan tried rigorously to improve their national reputation in the World. As Japan’s economy improved, Japan’s image shifted from a brutal and heartless military nation to a powerful economic nation, and then to a nation of “soft power.” In the last 10 years, the Japanese government came up with a PR strategy called “Cool Japan” and has been promoting the Japan’s soft power – nation’s creative industries such as fashion, manga, animation, tourism, and music. Has the “Cool Japan” strategy been successful? Is it the best way to promote Japan? In this course, students will examine the “Cool Japan” strategy and evaluate the success of the strategy. Then, students will learn and research new trends in Japan such as sustainability and renewable energy, earthquake-resistant architecture, and traditional crafts in the modern society. Throughout the course, students will practice and improve their linguistic knowledge as well as their cultural knowledge by reading and discussing various texts about the “Cool Japan” strategy and new trends in Japan. As the final project of the course, students will create a new strategy to promote Japan and present It to the Japanese people. Conducted in Japanese. Advanced level. Corequisites: Language Series