Tokyo has successfully wielded its soft power to grow ties with Thailand, overcoming a strong anti-Japanese sentiment deeply rooted in Asean four decades ago, a recent forum was told.
Kitti Prasirtsuk, Thammasat University's vice-rector for international affairs, said the early 1970s saw plenty of anti-Japanese movements in Southeast Asia led by Thailand and Indonesia.
"In 1974, when [former] Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka visited Southeast Asia, starting from Thailand, he met a fierce anti-Japanese demonstration. When he went to Jakarta, he met an even fiercer anti-Japanese rally. At that time, Japan was not popular because Southeast Asia was suffering from trade deficits and the lingering memory of World War II, which ended 30 years before in 1945. Japan was perceived as an economic animal not relating to the countries they invested in with regard to cultural or social dimensions," he said.
His remarks came at a forum titled "Challenges and Chances for Asia Pacific in the Coming Years" held at the Faculty of Political Science at Thammasat University's Tha Prachan campus.
Assoc Prof Kitti said Japan has managed to export its culinary and entertainment culture to gain ground in Asean.
"Anime, J-pop, and Japanese foods are popular in Thailand. You can find more than 2,000 restaurants here. Japanese food has become common for Thai consumers.
"You can find sushi in flea markets. Some people might argue the Korean wave has dominated the region, but I think Japan is more resilient in terms of its cultural power.
"All of you know BNK48. Its fan clubs range from teenagers to 40 year-olds. In my generation, we imitated Japanese pop culture. For example, Sao Sao Sao [the pop music trio in the 1980s] was modelled on Shojotai. Japan has successfully advanced its soft power in Southeast Asia particularly compared to China, which faces criticism for its economic aggression," he said.
Moreover, Assoc Prof Kitti said Japan has provided cultural exchange activities, scholarships, and Official Development Assistance to the region.
"[However], the decisive factor, in my view, would be foreign direct investment in the second half of the 1980s, when Japan was suffering from the high yen and needed to relocate its production bases to cheaper locations. From that point, the relationship between Japan and Southeast Asia started to improve thanks to increasing interdependence.
Nowadays, hundreds of thousands of Thais are employed by Japanese companies," he said.
Meanwhile, the lecturer on international relations said Asean underestimates Japan's technological power because it is better at selling components than putting complete products on the map.
"We don't know that components in high-tech products, like Apple's iPhone, come from Japan … A business professor from Osaka told me that Panasonic's revenue comes from batteries and things that are not so easy to see," he said.