Diplomacia y Humor: Los Usos Estratégicos del Humor en la Diplomacia Pública de Japón en España

Abstract

The establishment of the Cool Japan strategy in the 2000s opened up new possibilities within the realm of public diplomacy in Japan, which began to make active use of pop culture in its national promotion programs. Before the use of traditional arts that until then had defined the cultural activities of Japanese public diplomacy, the adoption of pop culture through creations such as manga, anime or video games implied the development of a facet of more popular, informal and close characteristics in which humor has begun to play a key role in various ways. By analyzing this issue, this thesis raises as a research hypothesis that humor has begun to become a strategic area of Japanese public diplomacy at a multidimensional and complex level in which cultural programming, political representation and personal interaction contribute to the construction of the nation brand of Japan, transmitting positive messages that bring its image closer to the international public and encourage their active involvement. In order to verify this hypothesis, this thesis analyzes the comic tradition of Japanese popular culture and identifies its importance in a society that is not usually associated with humor in the international imaginary; reconstructs the historical development of Japanese public diplomacy and its role in international relations, paying special attention to bilateral relations between Japan and Spain; considers the strategic use of humor in this diplomacy, understood as a main field of foreign policy in which relationships, interests, influences and images are articulated; and reveals humor as a strategic area of contemporary Japanese diplomatic action. In the development of these issues, this thesis articulates an ad hoc theoretical framework that combines theoretical approaches to the historical study of humor in Japanese popular culture and theories of international relations, specifically of Japanese public diplomacy. At a methodological level, this research applies a qualitative approach from an interdisciplinary perspective that articulates the historical approach of literature and theater, the study of media and audiovisual productions, as well as the analysis of politics and international relations in Japan. From the analysis of this specific case of Japanese public diplomacy within Spain, this thesis concludes that humor is a strategic area of current Japanese diplomatic action in a process involving both public and private agents from diverse sectors ranging from the world of entertainment to the political and diplomatic sphere itself.

Date of Award	20 Jan 2023
Original language	Spanish
Supervisor	Blai Guarné (Director)