[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-141691-105":59,"doc-detail-141691-en":131},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":124,"head_meta":126,"extra_data":128,"updated_unix":130},105,"en","girls-in-sailor-suits-constructing-soft-power-in-japanese-cultural-diplomacy","Girls in Sailor Suits: Constructing Soft Power in Japanese Cultural Diplomacy","","The article examines how Japanese popular culture, especially girls depicted in sailor school uniforms, has supported Japan’s cultural diplomacy and soft-power strategies. It traces historical initiatives from the 1930s onward and contrasts earlier state-led cultural showcases with later postwar government and private sector efforts that incorporate mass entertainment. Through examples from manga, anime, and contemporary art, it argues that “Sailor Scouts” function as accessible icons whose global fan reception reshapes cultural identity, even while the limits of soft power remain evident for sensitive political issues.",{"@graph":69,"@context":123},[70,84,106],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/girls-in-sailor-suits-constructing-soft-power-in-japanese-cultural-diplomacy/141691/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/girls-in-sailor-suits-constructing-soft-power-in-japanese-cultural-diplomacy/141691.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Taylor Morgan","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-28","2026-08-25",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":105},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",16,{"@type":107,"mainEntity":108},"FAQPage",[109,115,119],{"name":110,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":112},"How does the article link Japanese popular culture to foreign policy?","Question",{"text":113,"@type":114},"It argues that Japan has increasingly used popular culture as part of cultural diplomacy, shaping political image and soft power through widely consumed media and characters.","Answer",{"name":116,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":117},"What historical examples does the article use for Japan’s cultural diplomacy?",{"text":118,"@type":114},"It references state-backed initiatives such as the Society for International Cultural Relations (KBS) in 1934 and exhibitions organized by KBS in the mid-1930s, illustrating early government involvement in cultural projection.",{"name":120,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":121},"Why are girls in sailor uniforms important in the article’s analysis?",{"text":122,"@type":114},"The article treats sailor-uniform characters as accessible, recognizable icons—especially in works like Sailor Moon—that help communicate cultural identity globally, including among audiences in the West.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":125,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":127,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":129,"site_id":62},141691,1787662782,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":132},{"doc_id":129,"user_id":133,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":105,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":140,"language":141,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":142,"faqs":143,"seo_title":144,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":130,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},1099523885336,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","Girls in Sailor Suits: Constructing Soft Power in Japanese Cultural Diplomacy  \nKyunghee Pyun*  \nState University of New York  \nIntroduction: Popular Culture for Japanese Foreign Policy  \nJapan, having been a former colonial empire which occupied many regions of the Pacific, has often been accused of indifference to repatriation, justice, and vindication. Japanese popular culture, on the other hand, has amelioratedits wartime stereotype. Manga, anime, graphic novels, music, and related cultural products such as figures and characters from Japan are popular in Asia and Europe, as well as the Americas. Hong Kong, for example, has been quite receptive of Japanese popular culture. Sociologist Annie Huanung Chan connected the construction of cultural identity among Hong Kong residents with their consumption of Japanese pop culture.1 Japanese department stores and character products like Hello Kitty and Little Twin Star have been widespread in Hong Kong (Figure 1) . Cartoon programming such as Doraemon and Pokémon were well-received in television.2 Manga booms led many countries to import ladies’ comics with sexually explicit content.3  \n* Department of History of Art, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York.  \n1 Annie Hau-nung Chan,“Consumption, Popular Culture, and Cultural Identity: Japan in Post-Colonial Hong Kong,” Studies in Popular Culture 23, no. 1 (2000): 35-55. [http://www.jstor.org/sta](http://www.jstor.org/sta)ble/23414566 .  \n2 In the 1980s, Hong Kong imported 1,357 hours of U.S. television shows; 768 hours of Italian shows; and  \n391 hours from Japan. Chan,“Consumption,” 45.  \n3 Gretchen Jones, “‘Ladies’ Comics’: Japan’s Not-So-Underground Market in Pornography for Women,” U.S.-Japan Women’s Journal. English Supplement, no. 22 (2002): 3-31. [http://www.jstor](http://www.jstor).  \n21  \nKyunghee Pyun  \nJapan has used cultural diplomacy to burnish its political image since the 1930s. Historian John Gripentrog showed how Japan wanted to reinvent itself after the occupation of Manchuria and the establishment of Manchukuo in the 1930s. Japan set up a state-sponsored initiative called the Society for International Cultural Relations (Kokusai Bunko Shinkōkai, KBS) in 1934 with dignitaries from the Japanese aristocracy and government as advisorsand officers.4 In 1936, KBS organized a special exhibition with rare works loaned by private collectors, the imperial family, and national museums in Japan at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boson and later at other museums in the United States. It is common for Japan to showcase high-level art and culture to enhance its value and prestige, and this type of cultural diplomacy is familiar to the West. What is notable in the postwar period is that the Japanese government and private sectors alike included popular culture in this concerted push for soft power.  \nGirl characters wearing school uniforms, such as in the anime series Sailor Moon (Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn 美少女戦士セーラームーン, Beautiful GirlWarrior Sailor Moon, shown in Japan from 1991 to 1997), have many fans beyond Japan. Horror film series like Haunted School (Gakkō no Kaidan学校の怪談, 1995), made viewers familiar with students dressed in uniforms. Girls in school uniforms are reproduced in images in magazines, manga, anime, and contemporary art. For example, contemporary artist Mariko Mori’s Love Hotel (1994) shows a woman in her sailor uniform kneeling on a round bedin a love hotel (Figure 3) .5 Sociologist Susan Napier included girls in sailor uniforms among four major types of girlhood in Japanese popular culture.6 Sociologist Anne Allison also pointed out the global impact of these “Sailor Scouts” on global communities.7  \norg/stable/42772180 .  \n4 John Gripentrog,“Power and Culture: Japan’s Cultural Diplomacy in the United States, 1934-1940.” Pacific Historical Review 84, no. 4 (2015): 478-80. [https://doi.org/10.1525/phr.2015.84.4.478](https://doi.org/10.1525/phr.2015.84.4.478) .  \n5 Jonathan Wallis,“The Paradox of Marik","cbCaieKMJ7w1syrf","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaieKMJ7w1syrf","pdf",1963619,25,"English","# Introduction: Popular Culture for Japanese Foreign Policy\n## Cultural Identity and Popular Media Reception\n## From State-Sponsored Cultural Initiatives to Soft Power\n## Girls in Sailor Suits as Global Icons","[{\"question\":\"How does the article link Japanese popular culture to foreign policy?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that Japan has increasingly used popular culture as part of cultural diplomacy, shaping political image and soft power through widely consumed media and characters.\"},{\"question\":\"What historical examples does the article use for Japan’s cultural diplomacy?\",\"answer\":\"It references state-backed initiatives such as the Society for International Cultural Relations (KBS) in 1934 and exhibitions organized by KBS in the mid-1930s, illustrating early government involvement in cultural projection.\"},{\"question\":\"Why are girls in sailor uniforms important in the article’s analysis?\",\"answer\":\"The article treats sailor-uniform characters as accessible, recognizable icons—especially in works like Sailor Moon—that help communicate cultural identity globally, including among audiences in the West.\"}]","Girls in Sailor Suits: Constructing Soft Power in Japanese Cultural Diplomacy | PDF",63]