Japan’s ‘soft’ power (1)

Tokyo, Japan—I’m here for a joint analysis workshop of a huge research project on “Masculinities, Gender Equality, and Peace-building” funded by one of Japan’s biggest funding agencies, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. The research covers four areas: Aceh and Ambon in Indonesia, and Maguindanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur in Mindanao in the Philippines.

More than 6,000 respondents answered questions of a one-shot sample survey in the four areas, and the quantitative data from the survey are to be corroborated with the data from more than 100 key informant interviews and focus group discussions in the research locations. The research teams of the two countries discussed for three days their experiences and insights in running the still ongoing study, as well as partial results.

As the project’s overall technical adviser, I am privileged to have been engaged in intense and meaningful exchanges of insights and comparative perspectives of something that is not quite often discussed in gender studies: masculinities, especially in contexts of armed conflicts. I also felt rejuvenated from my three-day interactions with the young and smart members of the research teams in the two countries. The project also benefits from the inputs of a gender specialist from Conciliation Resources, a London-based organization that publishes regularly a journal on peace-building initiatives in different parts of the world.

As a retired professor, I am learning from the young researchers’ dynamism and high levels of abstraction and skills in the research topic’s conceptual handles. Truly, learning is an interminable process; we all learn (and also unlearn) as we age—this process only stops when we breathe our last.

Since the research is still ongoing, I cannot yet write about its results. Upon its completion, the team will disseminate the research among policy and decision-makers in the four areas involved, including their counterparts at the national level (Indonesia and the Philippines).

This is my 10th visit to Japan, one of my most favorite countries for sojourns. From its beautifully maintained gardens and patches of miniforests standing cheek by jowl with massive skyscrapers, and well-preserved temples and shrines, Japan exudes subtle, soft ways of making visitors fall in love with it to make them visit it again and again. I am one of those captivated by Japan’s “soft” power.

Japan’s “soft” power actually refers to its strategic vision of creating a wide network of leaders from different parts of the world, especially in Southeast Asia, and the African continent, to draw support for its significant role in world politics.

Everywhere we go, from the tiniest and even least visited corners to the most urbanized and polluted cosmopolitan centers in many parts of the world, Japan and its technology are quite ubiquitous: cars, motorbikes, machines, computers, household gadgets, and what one Japanese author calls “unuseless inventions” (maybe wrong, grammatically, but perhaps it was his way of demonstrating that inventions may seem useless at first glance but actually are quite useful). Among these are slippers for use inside our houses that double as wipes or mops—as you use them, they constantly wipe the floor of dust and fine dirt.

This soft power has been built up over decades of Japan’s generous financial support to various forms of scholarships in almost all academic fields—science, technology, robotics, economics, and even in the social sciences and humanities. The Japanese government also has supported visiting scholars from various countries, especially the Philippines, and I am proud to say I have been one of its beneficiaries. Young and not-so-young academics from different parts of the globe have enjoyed the privileges of being a scholar of different public and private sector-funded scholarships and fellowships.

Book authors like the multi-awarded Marites Dañguilan Vitug are provided grants to stay in Japan to write or finish a book. This is through funding from the National Graduate Institute of Policy Studies (GRIPS). GRIPS is the Japanese center for training young and not-so-young leaders from different parts of the world in policy studies and policymaking.

(To be continued)

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