Cosplay and Soft Power

My faculty at Kokushikan University hosts a biannual symposium for students each year. This year my proposal was selected for the spring panel. The English translation for the title was “Soft Power Potential of Japan's Cosplay Culture”. Through the World Cosplay Summit event, we have paid official visits to the Ministry of Foreign almost every year since 2006. It was an incredible honor to have Ritsuko Suzuki from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs participate in the panel along with the CEO of the WCS, Tokumaru Oguri, and the prolific cosplayer REIKA.

First up, REIKA's presentation focused on her years of experience as a cosplayer from Japan. She discussed personal experiences participating in anime events the world over. At each event she had opportunities to interact with convention participants and fans alike. Her stories of visiting 54 countries as one of the most experienced cosplay ambassadors for Japan was enlightening for the students.

Next, Tokumaru Oguri spoke about the origins of the World Cosplay Summit, held annually in Nagoya, and about the joys and difficulties of organizing such a large-scale global event. As an event organizer the logistics of running an event with near 40 participating countries is a unique challenge. With the reality of Japan being an island nation, most students have not yet had a chance to travel abroad. The experiences of forming alliances with events the world over and inviting cosplay representative teams to Japan was as unique opportunity.

Ritsuko Suzuki, Director of the Cultural Exchange and Public Diplomacy Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs brought discussion together with the intriguing relationship that politics plays with popular culture. She explained how Japanese pop culture - including cosplay - is regarded as an important form of soft power in diplomatic strategy from the perspective of public diplomacy. The unbridled popularity of Japanese anime culture with youth around the world has been a challenge to harness effectively and Ritsuko Suzuki detailed the multi-layered initiatives being undertaken by the government of Japan.

Not all of the audience were familiar with the extent of the popularity of anime culture around the world.The firsthand experiences of experts in the field was a special opportunity and it was a pleasure to work with fellow professors of the Faculty of Political Science and Economics in bringing this panel discussion to fruition.

Feedback from the students afterwards was encouraging and seeing them ask to take photos with REIKA after the panel finished with a Q&A session showed their interest in the topic.