13,176 research outputs found
La guerra (non) è finita. Mizuki nel Giappone della resa e della ricostruzione
No full textIl terzo volume di questa storia del Giappone del Novecento a fumetti è forse, all’interno dell’opera, quello più accattivante e complesso. La cronologia si espande nuovamente e ci ritroviamo a seguire le vicende di Shigeru nell’arco di poco meno di un decennio, dal 1944 al 1953
"È stato divertente". L'eredità di Mizuki e il lungo post-Shōwa
No full textQuando il 30 novembre 2015, è scomparso a 93 anni Shigeru Mizuki, tutti i principali media giapponesi ne hanno dato notizia. Uno dei maggiori quotidiani del Paese, l’Asahi Shimbun, titolava, citando la popolare sigla del cartone animato di Kitaro, “Ci siamo divertiti (tanoshii na)”11, aggiungendo “Il degrado umano e l’esperienza di guerra trasformati in risata”
Smart Energy for the World: The Rise of a Technonationalist Discourse in Japan in the Late 2000s
No full textIn recent years, "smart city" has become a buzzword in discussions about urbanisation. While in Europe and North America the initial utopian optimism has now receded, due to booming implementation costs and surveillance concerns, the smart city model has taken root in rapidly urbanising Asia in particular, thanks to the activism of China and Japan. For the latter, smart city technologies and technical know-how represent the new frontier of export goods. In April 2018, the Government of Japan and that of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam announced the construction of a new smart city on the outskirts of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi that is set to become Japan's largest ODA project to date. Despite changes in the global hegemonic narratives on smart cities, the new project bears the features of an urban settlement that revolves around technological data collection for the sake of perfect efficiency, rather than for its prospective inhabitants. Against this backdrop, how did the Government of Japan succeed in constructing a convincing narrative for made-in-Japan smart cities? Since 2011, thanks to specific initiatives by Japan's government and investments by Japanese tech companies in the sector, a Japanese discourse on smart cities has emerged. Through an examination of earlier critiques of the smart city model and a close analysis of official policies and books by energy policy intellectuals, this paper will identify the main features of the Japanese discourse on smart cities and place it in the context of an evolving broader global narrative. The study demonstrates how the Japanese discourse on smart cities largely reflects a corporate managerial vision of the city and, at the same time, a “technonationalist” approach that informs the country's foreign policy
Development as a Brand? Japanese Aid to Asia and the Case of Vietnam in a Historical Perspective
No full textThe aim of this proposal is to analyze the role of Japan in contemporary international relations. More specifically, my analysis will focus on the relationships Japan has forged with Southeast Asian countries, particularly underlining the strong link between Japan and Vietnam over the last decade. What will be taken into consideration in this context is the image requalification process Japan has been implementing since the promotion of the “Fukuda Doctrine” in 1977. Japan has indeed become one of the most active promoters of economic cooperation and development in Asia. I shall therefore consider to what extent Vietnam has benefitted from Japan's economic proactivity and on the other
hand, to what extent Japan has affirmed itself in the region, countering the rising of China. From the point of view of economic and democratic development, in fact, since 1945 Japan has undergone a massive transformation that impacted on the relation with other Asian countries.
The military occupation of Asia in the 30's, promoted under the banners of dōbun dōshu (“same culture, same race”) propaganda led to deep exploitation of countries natural resources, workforce and reduced millions of people to poverty. Instead, after 1945, Japan started considering that a peaceful context could help its expanding economy. As a result, through the promotion of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) since 1954, Japan began to rehabilitate itself in the eye of its neighbouring countries. As for the Vietnamese case, Ōno (2009; 84-86) pointed out that since 2001, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has been among the top four recipients of Japan's aid. Official Development Assistance has provided nearly two trillion yen in infrastructural and social development projects in the last few years. In my paper, Japanese ODA in Vietnam could therefore be interpreted as a “branding” tool to enhance what Simon Anholt calls “national reputation” (Anholt 2010). As also underlined by Negri and Hardt (2000) in fact in the new political order of globalization, “sovereignty has taken new forms”. In conclusion, the questions I shall address are how Japan has succeeded in “rehabilitating its image” and what is the real aim behind this strategy in a future perspective
Help the Poor, Help Ourselves: Merging Individual and Collective Interests in the Official Discourse on Japanese ODA since 2000
No full textJapanese ODA has attracted much attention in the last three decades. This paper aims to shed light on the intellectual evolution of the official discourse on Japanese ODA based on the analysis of two main ‘modes of thought’ at the foundation of it, namely national interest and international affiliation. Based on a detailed content analysis of official documents and public debates, the paper will take the role of institutional actors – Japanese political leaders, foreign ministers and intellectuals – into consideration. The role of such “entrepreneurs” has been crucial for shaping the current official discourse on Japanese foreign aid. The paper will argue, in fact, that the official discourse is a juxtaposition of two clashing ideas carefully shaped to enlarge the consensus (both domestic and external) toward the Japanese government’s policies
The Rise of Governance and the Japanese Intermediation in Transitional Vietnam: The Impact of Japanese Knowledge-Based Aid to Vietnam in the Doi Moi Years
No full textIn the late 1980s, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam, hereafter) underwent a period of reforms known as doi moi (renovation), opened its economy to global flows of goods and capitals and adopted an “omnidirectional” strategy aimed at building relations with former “enemy” states like Japan and the US. These multiple transitions presented the country’s communist leadership with new challenges: first and foremost, transforming the country’s governance from socialist to a partially neoliberal one in the attempt to accommodate international partners’ and investors’ demands. The present study will address the following research question: by which means did the Vietnamese leadership succeed in surviving the demise of the USSR and conform to the emerging neoliberal global order? Against the backdrop of the global rise of the good governance model for international development, this article will shed light on Japan’s role during Vietnam’s first phase of reforms in the early 1990s through its government-led knowledge-based aid initiatives up until the draft of the country’s first Comprehensive Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy. It will argue that Japan offered a certain development know-how and a model of state-mediated growth which suited Vietnam’s Communist party’s needs to keep the single-party rule
Mutual Transformations - Southeast Asia and Japan in the 21st Century
No full textThis special issue examines the complex and evolving relations between Japan and Southeast Asia. Historically rich in resources, Southeast Asia attracted imperial powers, including Japan, significantly transforming the region. Post-war ecosystems were influenced by Japanese occupation during WWII, shaping leaders and industrial development. Japanese investments and Official Development Assistance (ODA) since the 1960s have facilitated regional growth. Despite Japan's cautious diplomacy due to its US alliance, it diversified support in the 1990s, including infrastructure, legal, and political aid to transitional economies like Vietnam. Japan remains a significant investor, expanding aid to address climate change and maintaining trust in ASEAN countries. Recent geopolitical shifts, including China's rise and US-China competition, have pushed Southeast Asia to strengthen ties with both powers, positioning Japan's evolving role as crucial for regional security and development. The issue includes analyses of Japan's strategic empowerment of Southeast Asia, capacity building, nostalgia in foreign policy, and smart technologies in urban planning, illustrating broader trends and reducing historical asymmetries
“Greening” Speculative Urbanism?Space Politics and Model Circulation in South Korea and Vietnam’s Special Economic Zones
No full textAs products of the waves of deregulation and liberalization of trade and investments in the region in the 1980s and mid-1990s, special economic zones (SEZs) have emerged as an important tool of economic governance in East and Southeast Asia. Recently, governments and investors around the region, have favored multi-purpose SEZs conceived for land and real estate development which exhibit several similarities such as eliciting tourism as the main driver of local development and a declared “eco” and “green” configuration. The Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) in the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Van Don SEZ in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) are two illustrative cases of urban policy diffusion as a complex phenomenon combining the ROK’s increased international activism and SRV’s own institutional structure and preferences in terms of development goals. Based on a close reading of reports, official documents, qualitative interviews and site visits, this article will further contribute to the debate on the complexity of urban policy diffusion in contemporary East and Southeast Asia
Dalle piazze a Twitter contro l’egemonia di Abe: La strategia comunicativa del Partito democratico costituzionale alle elezioni del 2017
No full textJapan ranks second in the world in terms of the number of Twitter users. Since 2009, under the Democratic Party’s 3-year permanence in power, politicians and administrators have turned to Twitter massively to build a direct communication with their constituency. It was, however, only in 2017 that Twitter has become a propaganda tool and a locus of political debate among Japanese politicians and netizens. The Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) is an exemplary case of this transition. Born a few weeks before the vote of 22 October 2017, it managed to get attention and consensus, also thanks to a massive use of social networks, and, finally, to confirm itself as the first opposition party. A year after its foundation, however, it has failed to broaden its electoral base and consolidate itself locally. However, the article aims to identify the factors behind its swift success: on the one hand the role of the leader Edano Yukio and on the other the construction of a "counterhegemonic” narrative (though short-lived) capable of obtaining consensus in the immediacy of the election. This analysis intends to use the textual material available online (for example: tweets more relevant from a political-programmatic point of view) to identify the narrative framing of the political campaign, regularities and innovations within it to enlarge the CDP’s chances to gain at the ballot. In addition, the article intends to assess the role of social networks such as Twitter for politicians even in a seemingly neutral web space such as Japan’s
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