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The Sounds Within, the Visions Without |
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I expect that EU-Japan Year of People-to-People Exchanges 2005 will promote various humanistic and cultural exchanges. Mutual understanding is extremely important in order to obtain extensive support from the citizens for the joint efforts of Japan and the EU in the political, economical and social fields. The recent increase of the number of EU member states in 2004 has provided a golden opportunity for deepening the mutual understanding between the citizens of Japan and the new member states. First of all, I would like to take a look at what kind of relationship Japan and the EU member states have in terms of citizens' awareness. According to the "opinion poll on diplomacy" conducted in Japan by the Japanese government last year, 51 of the Japanese people feel an affinity with EU member states, which was the highest ratio after the US, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The reasons for this affinity, however, should be considered carefully. In an image survey on Britain conducted by the British Council from 1999 to 2000, targeting 30 states in the world, next to China, the Japanese respondents had the lowest percentage of people who positively evaluated the economy, society, education, innovative and creative aspects of Britain. Although many Japanese people recognize EU member states as culturally rich states with high standards of life and industry, their views tend to be those of typical tourists, imagining the EU states as old and beautiful countries. Looking at the new EU member states, only 20 of the Japanese people feel an affinity with Central/East European states such as Poland and Hungary, which was the lowest ratio after the Middle East and Africa, according to the Japanese opinion poll of last year.
Conversely, while 60 to 70 of the indivuduals evaluated Japan as "a country with rich tradition and culture" or "a country with strong economic and technological power" in an opinion poll conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in 2002 in five states in Western Europe, 40 of the individuals also saw Japan as "an incomprehensible country with strange culture". This ratio can reach 40 to 90 in Central-Eastern Europe, except in two states, one of which is Poland. The citizens of Japan and of the new EU member states still have little basic understanding of each other. Japanese people seem to consider the new EU member states to be far from them, psychologically speaking. Thus, since mutual contacts and exchanges seem to be absolutely lacking between Japan and these countries, it is necessary to increase the total volume of exchanges to develop a sense of closeness. It is also questionable how the citizens of Japan and the old EU member states perceive each other. We have accumulated a history of ever-increasing contact with each other's rich traditions and culture. Nonetheless, Japanese people still maintain highly outdated images of Europe, and it is a quite pervasive conception among European people that it is difficult to understand Japanese people. Cultural exchange projects can only be feasible when there are demands on the receiving side. By necessity, projects tend to emphasize on different aspects because such demands are created based on already known favorable images the receiving side has about the target. It is now necessary to take on projects that will add new aspects to the perception of both sides, exchanges that will deepen the understanding of each other's current life style and nurture empathy among present-day people on both sides. In order to make this possible, it would be necessary to renew the perception of our own culture. This, however, can be quite difficult. Japanese cultural exchange activities have generally focused on topics such as "co-existence of tradition and modernity" and "aestheticism expressed through the delicate, elaborate and unique sense of design". However, such national cultural assets were transformed with time. The modem Japanese culture has stronger transnational elements, where Western and Asian cultures are intermingled. The Japanese culture can no longer be captured in terms of definite national culture only. These circumstances apply even more to the EU states, which have been exposed to exchanges among people with different cultural backgrounds for longer periods and to higher degrees than Japan has. The distinguishing cultural characteristics of the EU member states include cultural diversity and co-existence of multilayered people with various different identities. It would be interesting to see joint exhibitions where citizens and artists from each country express these characteristics under one theme. For outside states such as Japan, whose cultural backgrounds are entirely different, the cultural characteristics of the EU states are very interesting topics and such projects will clearly show the common foundation that supports the European diversity in various environments.
I would like to state my suggestions for some possible future efforts. First of all, the new EU member states, which have had relatively little exchange with Japan, must reach out to a great number of Japanese people. Exposure to artistic and cultural aspects such as music will be easy for the Japanese citizens to familiarize themselves with, and they have high chances of success. It is worth taking advantage of the many music festivals held in approximately 120 Japanese local cities. France is attempting to introduce La Folle Journée, a music festival for citizens held by the Nantes city to Japan. Movies are effective means to obtain a deeper understanding about people's lives. Joint movie festivals by EU member states, which have already been held in Japan, have a high likelihood of being well received in local regions. In Japan, various non-profit local movie festivals are held in approximately 160 cities. European movies enjoy a natural, deep-rooted popularity as they tend to deal with various aspects of human nature. Subtitling in Japanese is a must. Another theme that Japanese people like is art and culture found in everyday life. Arts and crafts have always been integrated into Japanese people's lives. The famous tea ceremony is one of the typical examples of this. Exhibitions on cultural aspects found in everyday life, expressed through high quality designs, such as European furniture and fashion, would be very popular. Also, cultural industries are an efficient link between Asian and European populations. Many young European people know a lot about Japanese comics and many young Japanese people can talk about European techno music. There are many things about the cultures of young people that European states can introduce to Japan. Language is the biggest obstacle in the cultural exchange. The EU promotes the teaching of the languages of the EU member states in each school's foreign language education. As the EU expands, this development will spread to the new EU member states as well. I am, however, concerned that the teaching of languages with low diffusion rates such as Japanese may be a low priority. I hope that the EU will maintain contacts with Asia in the field of education as well. In the 1990s, various activities among citizens to contribute to the societies have gained force in the fields of welfare, environment, education, culture etc. I understand that the EU is making efforts to promote civil societies. Exchanges among citizens involved in social contribution activities are powerful measures to develop solidarity among the citizens who form the foundation of joint Japan-EU efforts. Cultural exchanges among leaders of non-profit civil activities are one of the things to be developed further in order to promote co-operation among citizens' organizations. Japanese people are particularly interested in the activation of domestic regional societies, because many local economies are under significant strains due to the hollowing out of the industrial structure caused by Asian states gaining economic power. As a consequence, the development of regions via cultural projects and tourism is attracting attention, and more and more local governments and citizens' organizations are working on such initiatives. I believe interaction of non-profit citizens organization between Japan and the EU could be significant in many issues.
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