Asian Obsession with Japanese Culture

What I have come to notice recently after living in Asia for a couple of months is the obsession of all things Japanese in all manners of society. From anime to food to language, it is evident around every corner in Hong Kong. This is not exclusive to Hong Kong, Taiwan has long been regarded (at least under my impression) of close to mimicking Japanese culture. A quick search on a restaurant review website (similar to Tripadvisor), the top restaurants in a busy suburb produced a result of more than half of which are Japanese cuisine. On the streets of Hong Kong, every corner you look, there’s a Japanese restaurant. Even restaurants that have no remote connection to Japanese cuisine will have Japanese characters just for the hell of it (and this applies to food bought in stores).  As if like some sort of marketing ploy, products with Japanese characters sell for higher prices. Of course food is just one aspect, other things from mass media to even language has some influence from Japan. So I ask all you readers out there, why this obsession to Japanese culture? What’s the biggest thing that is causing this cultural hegemony on Asia and beyond? 

An example of cultural domination...

China’s soft power or lack thereof.

In contrast to the last, this post will be more serious in nature as it explores the realm of the international political system. I’ll try to make this as accessible as possible (sorry fellow Warwick academics, no IR theory in this *hopefully*). 

The recent crisis in the Korean Peninsula no doubt sparked much debate on what the concerned countries will do next. Will Kim let his son play with the missile controls? Will South Korea retaliate if attacked as they said they would but failed to in each instances? Can the US muster enough bond buyers to fund them another show of force? Needless to say, it’s pretty much impossible to guess what will happen and let’s leave that to the politicians and academics. 

What I will talk about today is China’s role in all of this. After the shelling of civilians and troops on the South Korean Island, China’s response was pretty muted. What was surprising was its initiative to host a de facto six party talk. However, all it got was an unenthusiastic non-reply from South Korea, Japan and the US. Instead these countries hosted their own meeting and responded in the form of military drills. Protests by China regarding the military drill were futile as USS George Washington starts launching F/A-18s at China’s doorsteps.  Shortly after, the Americans started another exercise with the Japanese, its largest since the creation of its alliance. 

All of these come to show all that China has quietly worked for in the past two to three decades of subliminal diplomacy to influence its neighbours was pretty much fruitless, albeit on some small countries south of its border (even Vietnam seems to cause a problem to China). While economic coercion as in the case of halting rare earth exports to Japan to release its fisherman arrested near the Diaoyu Islands, seemed plentiful, its soft power is another matter. If soft power is to influence actors to “want what you want” as proposed by Joseph Nye, then the extent of China’s soft power seems questionable in this respect.   

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If you have any thoughts, comments or topic suggestions, please put them down in the comment section below!

Russia and Qatar?!

Lets start off with something light-hearted. The announcement of Russia and Qatar to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup no doubt caught many by surprise. The Brits were definitely disappointed with major stars like Beckham promoting the bid. However, there seems to be some sore losers among the competitors with Barack Obama saying that Fifa had made: "the wrong decision" in awarding the 2022 tournament to Qatar.

In contrast, (not being bias here..) the Aussies being a good sport stated that "we are obviously disappointed at the outcome in Zurich, however we are proud of the efforts we made in trying to secure a World Cup in Australia." Adding that "Australia's reputation as a potential host for such a major event has been reinforced."

Seeing the gains from a defeat is a lesson that both countries and people should take note of. Before I go, I'll leave you with this quote which fits this post well. “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” - Winston Churchill 


Oh yea, and who can forget Kim's bid for the world cup..

All quotes from BBC News, Image from SCMP

Welcome to the Neo-Observer!

First and foremost, a big welcome to the Neo-Observer!

In my first ever blog ( I know, I'm a bit late on this whole blogging thing!), I will be posting my thoughts and views on everything ranging from everyday ups and downs to social and political events from around the world. I hope you'll enjoy what you read here and please comment with your thoughts and feelings!