Major Challenges to Japan’s Soft Power as a Means of Successful Public Diplomacy – A Current East Asia Context

Monir Hossain Moni (Research Professor)

As my candidature better merits this academic award due to numerous justifications, I did not become surprised when I heard that I had been selected to receive a prestigious OHIRA prize for my individual research. In fact, I carry out leading-edge research in the broadly eclectic field of ‘Asia Pacific Global Interdisciplinary Studies’, with an area concentration on East Asia shedding light on Japan-its society and culture, political economy, international relations, multinational business, evolving engagement with the world’s most pressing issues as well as this unique nation’s ever-greater contribution of development cooperation to South Asia amid a changing and challenging era of globalization. In line with my expertise area, I would complete this OHIRA-funded research titled “Major Challenges to Japan’s Soft Power as a Means of Successful Public Diplomacy: A Current East Asian Context”. The principal purposes of my study are twofold: First, it will examine the growing obstacles confronting Japanese soft power in the East Asian competitive regional order, mainly at interface of today’s China; and (ii) It will unfold the future potentials of Japanese cultural diplomacy toward the entire geography of Asia, going beyond Japan’s top-tier ‘economic diplomacy’ ever since in this region. By developing an analytical skeleton of ‘soft power’ and ‘public diplomacy’ as an integral element of the 21st century’s foreign policy, this qualitative research will arguably suggest how Tokyo could more successfully exert Japan’s soft power both regionally and globally, even though the country has long remained a great ‘civilian power’. This insightful piece will offer a convincing conclusion, while systematically finding suitable literature, framing investigative questions and identifying key problems. My current affiliation as a Visiting Research Scholar with the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken) located in Kyoto, the capital of ancient Japan, which is also known as the ‘Culture Heart’ of Japan, will definitely be a big plus point for me to conduct this project. I ardently believe that this OHIRA award would not only inspire me to continue in striving for excellence in my scholarly pursuits with an enhanced Japan connection, but also make me more dedicated to fulfill my noble but too-challenging and time-consuming tasks with a renewed stamina. Finally, I like to extend my deepest gratefulness to the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Foundation for a superb light in which it has placed both me and my institution. Thank you very much.

Education:
Dr Monir Hossain Moni is a Research Professor at the Asia Pacific Institute for Global Studies (APIGS) located in Dhaka (Bangladesh). His area of research and teaching interest intrinsically encompasses Japan-its society & culture, political economy, international relations, multinational business as well as this unique nation’s catalytic role of development cooperation in Asia and the world amid today’s fast-changing and ever-challenging era of globalization. Besides his higher degrees awarded by the two Tokyo-based Japanese institutions of higher education (Waseda University and Hitotsubashi University) under the Japanese Government MEXT (Monbukagakusho) Scholarship Program during 7 years, he held a number of international research scholarships and fellowships. He has accomplished a series of cutting-edge research projects on Japan by continuous successes in receiving competitive funding from Japan’s leading grant-making organizations as well. In line with his expertise, Professor Moni has at the same time extensively and valuably contributed to peer-reviewed academic journals, such as Japan Studies Review, Japan Studies Association Journal, Columbia East Asian Review, APC Ajia Taiheiyo Kenkyu, Asia Pacific Social Science Review, Harvard Asia Pacific Review, Asia Pacific Review, Asia Europe Journal, Journal of International Development Studies, International Studies, World Affairs, etc. Moreover, he has journeyed to almost all countries across the largest Asia-Pacific landscape for paper presentations at overseas scholarly conferences and workshops in most of which he represented Japan.