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China

Pow! What Could Happen If Japanese ‘Cool’ Rode The Wave Of China's Industrial Boom

Analysis: As Japan tries to regain its late 20th century prowess in cultural exports, it should look next door to the steamrolling Chinese economy: both as a market and an industrial resource. A soft-power plan to conquer the world.

An Astro Boy poster
An Astro Boy poster
Daisuke Kondo

BEIJING – Culture and entertainment can sneak onto center stage in both global economics and diplomacy. Take the recent opening of the Japan Anime Festival 2011 in Beijing, where Japanese Foreign Minister Genba Koizumi and Chinese Cultural Minister Cai Wu shared their own childhood memories of watching manga films.

From the Astro Boy science fiction series of the 1960s to the latest Crayon Shin-chan, Japan's animation industry – not to mention related phenomena such as Hello Kitty or Nintendo electronic games – still exerts global influence.

Faced with a prolonged economic slump, the new government of Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda, has drawn up a new three-pronged national campaign to boost industry, labeled Life, Clean and Cool. "Life" covers the health and well-being fields, particularly associated with an aging population; "Clean" is for renewable energy; and "Cool" is for the creative industries like animation, television series, music, films, architecture, computer games, fashion and design.

On the "Cool" front, Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry opened in October the Creative Industries Promotion Office with a staff of 60. "Cool Japan" is its slogan for promoting the diffusion of Japanese culture in other countries.

The Cool Japan approach

Back in the second half of the 20th century, Japan adopted a "convoy" approach to marketing its products abroad. The Japanese government took the initiative to form a team of enterprises and promoted them as a whole package to the West. This was once the driving force of Japan's rapid post-war economic development. But over the past two decades, this force slowed down and eventually collapsed, under the weight of American resistance, the diversification of the market, as well as the rise of a more independent enterprise spirit.

Of late, the world has instead watched China's "troika" industrial and export policy. Driven by the Chinese government, its state-owned banks and state-owned enterprises marched proudly into the world market. Tokyo's response now appears to be Cool Japan, seeing this "soft power" strategy as the most effective way of spreading and maintaining its influence in the 21st century.

Under the government's guidance, Japan is unveiling its Cool Japan program in nine countries and 13 regions around the world. Currently, Japanese animation, comics, games and films are very well accepted overseas, but its export ratio is a very low 5%. The output simply does not meet the needs of the increasing Asian audience. For instance, integrating Japan's anime industry with Hollywood, so as to establish a Japan-America-Asia transmission model for Japanese culture would be critical. The trade and industry ministry has set a goal of more than tripling the present 0.7 trillion yen ($8.9 billion) worth of Japan's cultural products sold overseas.

I have my personal view as how to promote Japan's soft power. China and Japan should work jointly to seize the world market. There's already an example of such a joint venture. This year, "The Tibetan Dog", an animated film co-produced by Madhouse and the China Film Group Corporation has set a precedent.

When I saw the Chinese and Japanese ministers singing the Astro boy theme song together at the Japan Anime Festival, I was convinced that the two countries harvest from the same cultural soil.

Japan has the most advanced technology while China has the most talent. If they work together, like they did on Tibetan Dog, they'd be able to develop joint cultural products. This would be an invincible blend, first occupying the vast and growing Chinese market before exporting to the entire world.

Next year will be the 40th anniversary of China and Japan's normalization of diplomatic relations. Together Cool Japan and Hot China can join forces to advance a Sino-Japan cultural strategy.

Read the original article in Chinese

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Economy

Lex Tusk? How Poland’s Controversial "Russian Influence" Law Will Subvert Democracy

The new “lex Tusk” includes language about companies and their management. But is this likely to be a fair investigation into breaking sanctions on Russia, or a political witch-hunt in the business sphere?

Photo of President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda

Polish President Andrzej Duda

Piotr Miaczynski, Leszek Kostrzewski

-Analysis-

WARSAW — Poland’s new Commission for investigating Russian influence, which President Andrzej Duda signed into law on Monday, will be able to summon representatives of any company for inquiry. It has sparked a major controversy in Polish politics, as political opponents of the government warn that the Commission has been given near absolute power to investigate and punish any citizen, business or organization.

And opposition politicians are expected to be high on the list of would-be suspects, starting with Donald Tusk, who is challenging the ruling PiS government to return to the presidency next fall. For that reason, it has been sardonically dubbed: Lex Tusk.

University of Warsaw law professor Michal Romanowski notes that the interests of any firm can be considered favorable to Russia. “These are instruments which the likes of Putin and Orban would not be ashamed of," Romanowski said.

The law on the Commission for examining Russian influences has "atomic" prerogatives sewn into it. Nine members of the Commission with the rank of secretary of state will be able to summon virtually anyone, with the powers of severe punishment.

Under the new law, these Commissioners will become arbiters of nearly absolute power, and will be able to use the resources of nearly any organ of the state, including the secret services, in order to demand access to every available document. They will be able to prosecute people for acts which were not prohibited at the time they were committed.

Their prerogatives are broader than that of the President or the Prime Minister, wider than those of any court. And there is virtually no oversight over their actions.

Nobody can feel safe. This includes companies, their management, lawyers, journalists, and trade unionists.

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