Fashion, Soft Power and Cultural Diplomacy: A Case Study of Japanese Fashion in Australia

In 2010, the Japanese government established ‘The Office of Cool Japan’ to boost its cultural and economic power by promoting Japanese culture in other countries.But can fashion culture in one country really influence public opinion in another?How far can cultural commodities act as vehicles of soft power, and to what extent does that soft power influence international policy?In this title, Dr Tets Kimura places fashion on the same playing field as manga, anime, videogames, pop music, and film.Through interviews from the Japanese Prime Minister’s adviser, diplomats, and public servants to key industry stakeholders including a designer, a model, and a retailer, he investigates how Japanese fashion can advance Japan’s national interests within a key strategic partner, Australia. Taking this Asia-Pacific relationship as a detailed case study, Kimura combines methods from the humanities with theories from social and political sciences to propose a compelling new model for measuring the imp