Bloomsbury 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 aim 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 impact and efficacy of soft power. Across case studies from Rei Kawakubo’s Comme des Garcons and Uniqlo to crucial policy issues from whaling in the Southern Ocean and disagreements on the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, this innovative study investigates the possibilities and limitations of fashion as a soft power tool and illuminates exciting new directions for policymakers and researchers.