Where Politics and Popular Culture Intersect: Soft Power in East Asia

Summer Feng

Millions flock to Japan each year to see the famed cherry blossoms bloom and to visualize their beloved animated scenes come to life. Others devote their lives to their idols in Korea, while others visit China to take in the breathtaking views from the Great Wall. But what benefits do these bring to their countries, and why do these countries endorse it?

The answer to those questions lies in the concept of soft power. Soft power, unlike the militaristic approach of hard power, relies on entertainment and popular culture to attract and appeal to others, using these elements as a tool to strengthen political relationships. With the turn of the century, the global market has expanded, allowing ideas, entertainment, and ultimately culture to spread rapidly. Multiple East Asian countries have seized the opportunity to make their “breakthrough” into the Western world, establishing a connection with leaders or raising their favor with common people. However, each country has its own unique reasons for using soft power, distinct strategies, and varying responses from  the Western world.

South Korea’s prior fear of entering the global market stemmed from its repeated history of invasion from other cultures, namely those from China, Japan, and the United States. This fear of other countries’ popular cultures competing with its own resulted in its closed market that hindered international participation. In the early 1990s, the Korean film industry only took up 15.9% of the country’s market. In contrast, importing American films into Korea was allowed due to insistence from the US government, while the ban of Japanese popular culture, imposed in 1945 following Korea’s liberation from Japan, was not lifted until 1998. This lack of popularity for domestic entertainment allowed foreign media to dominate the industry, essentially overshadowing Korea’s own popular culture. 

But by the late 1990s, Korean popular culture began to rise, detaching from its wariness of stepping into the global market and transforming its fear of foreign cultural invasion into a powerful influence on others. This wave of Korean popular culture, known as Hallyu (Korean Wave), has become a source of national pride for South Koreans and is used as a tool of soft power to enhance the country’s international standing.

Hallyu first reached Korea’s neighboring countries in Asia, particularly Japan. Despite a fraught historical relationship, including Japan’s colonization of Korea from 1910 to 1945, Korea’s push of its popular culture proved successful. Namely two events stand out in the spread of the Korean Wave to Japan: the debut of the singer BoA, and the release of the drama Winter Sonata.

BoA, a Korean singer, made her debut in Japan in 2001 after achieving success in Korea the previous year. Her debut in Japan set her off on her career, topping Japan’s Oricon pop music charts, and being the first Korean singer to do so. BoA’s popularity continued to grow, eventually extending to other parts of East Asia. Despite being a first generation idol, her name remains widely recognized throughout the K-pop community. 

Within the film industry, the release of the Korean drama Winter Sonata in 2003 significantly amplified the Korean Wave in Japan. Despite past Korean dramas appealing to the Chinese taste for modern life, Winter Sonata appealed to middle-aged Japanese women by evoking a more traditional lifestyle. The traits of the male lead and the actor, Bae Yong-joon, depicted a “gentle” and “sincere” character that captivated many viewers. Soon, Bae’s popularity in Japan skyrocketed, and the Korean Wave grew so strong that it even impacted the Japanese market for American films, reducing the demand for Western imported media.

The Korean Wave that heavily influenced Japan and the rest of Asia did not necessarily have the same impact in the Western world, specifically North America. The early 2000s successes of Winter Sonata and BoA did not meet the same success in North America as they did in Asia. However, by the late 2000s and 2010s, the circumstances of Korean popular culture in the West changed drastically.

This second wave of popularity for Korean culture mainly owes its success to the role of social media. Known as the new Korean Wave or Hallyu 2.0, its main difference from the first wave is the presence of social media and its ability to circulate information rapidly. This connectivity led to the new wave having a more profound intensity.

Because of this newfound approach to spreading influence, Psy’s famous release of “Gangnam Style” in 2012 marked the breakthrough of K-pop into the North American market. With the use of social media and the new opportunity to enter the Western world, the appeal for K-pop and Korean culture grew rapidly. The shift from entertainment being solely on television to being readily available online allowed Korean popular culture to grow farther beyond its borders more than ever before.

Even now, effects of the Hallyu 2.0 are still evident. Boy group SEVENTEEN’s EP FML: The 10th Mini Album, released on April 24, 2023, has broken global records, selling over 3.9 million copies within the first 24 hours of release. With this achievement, they surpassed BTS’s 2020 album Map of the Soul: 7 and Adele’s 25, both of which had sold about 3.4 million copies within the first week. More recently, SEVENTEEN has become the best selling Korean concert in history, with over 140,000 tickets sold at both their dates at Nissan Stadium. 

However, some critics argue that the Korean Wave resembles American cultural imperialism. The Chinese government has restricted the streaming of Korean dramas as a way of “restricting the inflow of capitalist culture,” which is perceived as “a threat to socialist ideology and national security” in the eyes of the CCP. One example of this was during the US-South Korean cooperation of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in 2016, which China responded by blocking streaming services that provided Korean dramas, as well as stopping the partnership of making Korean dramas. Given that China is a major consumer of Korean dramas, this hurt Korea’s film industry severely. Despite its criticism, Korea’s abundant success in promoting its popular culture is evident even in mainstream media today. 

However, Japan’s own entertainment industry is not far behind either. Although Japan’s promotion of popular culture began even before its defeat in WWII, its main purpose was “to soften anti-Japan perceptions, notably in Southeast Asia” after the war. During the late 1980s, it was realized that Japanese TV programs were gaining popularity, which were then broadcasted for free in many Asian countries in hopes of strengthening soft power.

In the early 2000s, Japan sought to make a mark on the  Western world with a “Cool Japan” policy. The term “Gross National Cool,” or GNC, was coined as Japan leveraged its media to gain power across the globe. This popularity came through mainly anime and manga, and was managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, of MOFA. Characters such as Doraemon and Hello Kitty were named as “Ambassadors of Cute” in 2008 and 2009, respectively. 

These characters have appeared in multiple industries, from childhood television shows to makeup and skincare products. Apart from characters like Hello Kitty, other forms of entertainment like anime, J-fashion, and J-pop have become popular as well. New and classic shows such as Jujutsu Kaisen and One Piece are now found on apparel in American stores such as Urban Outfitters and Newbury Comics. 

However, some argue that this has had unintended consequences. Hayao Miyazaki, the founder of Studio Ghibli, has claimed that soft power has made Japan “forcibly unify” their cultural diversity into one image. According to anime producer and author Toshio Okada, “Japanese way of life, which is embodied in the mu-kokuseki (racially, ethnically, and culturally unembedded) imagery of animation.” He explains that the Japan seen in animation is a “monological illusion,” which is caused by “the consumption of cultural commodities,” which represents the very Japan that Western viewers yearn for.

And Japan’s success in providing its fans a “monological illusion” has proven to be true. Japan’s tourism rates have increased by 9.6% since 2019, and with the value of the yen dropping, the country has seen its record number of visitors this year, totalling to 17.78 million. 

However, in contrast to Japan and Korea’s success, China’s soft power strategies are still developing. Due to its reputation as a communist country, China employs two main strategies when utilizing soft power towards other countries. Offensive strategies are often targeted towards African countries, where China provides aid in developing the countries, notably through infrastructure development. China’s offensive strategy grows in power when they respect cultural differences of the countries they are targeting, which appeals to many of the developing countries with their history of colonization from Western countries. 

Additionally, China employs a defensive strategy towards Western nations, as its offensive approach of providing aid is less effective with developed countries. Consequently, China uses investments and entertainment to protect their image. To keep Western countries interested in collaborating with them, China uses economic strategies to deter their attention away from political disagreements. 

Furthermore, China’s recent advances in the gaming industry have led to  tremendous growth. Many game developers have extended overseas, and China now accounts  for 47% of the global mobile gaming revenue. With a strategy of protecting the country’s image, the industries of movies, video games, and technology play a big part in growing China’s soft power and economy.

While this offensive strategy has worked, the defensive has faltered. Many from Western countries, Japan, and South Korea still have negative views of China. This raises the question: so what has allowed South Korea and Japan to cultivate positive perceptions from the West—sometimes even to the point of fetishization—while China continues to be demonized?

Though much of this ideology is rooted in history, netizens also contribute to this problem. Many Chinese trends that gain popularity in the West are often rebranded as Korean or Japanese. Douyin makeup, known for its exaggerated under-eye fat and manhwa (Chinese comics) lashes, has been repeatedly named as Korean beauty trends, despite there being differences between the makeup styles. Similarly, tanghulu, a snack originating from the Song Dynasty and traditionally made with a sour fruit called hawthorn, was mistakenly attributed to Korea. These instances are often influenced by subtle anti-Chinese rhetoric, which may reflect an inherent belief that something cute or positive could not be associated with China. 

While soft power in Japan, South Korea, and China each operate differently, they all exemplify how soft power can lead to success. Though soft power can increase the likability of a country's people, it can also trap them under a monolith, creating stereotypes that may harm people of that country. Since soft power thrives off of the entertainment industry, it establishes a fragile foundation for relationships built off of it. Even if the government of a certain country is blameless,issues caused by representatives of the soft power within that country can reveal the superficiality of such relationships or alliances. Although soft power is an increasingly popular way to gain global dominance in today's world, it remains a double-edged sword and largely uncharted territory. 

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