Let’s not forget that the auto and electronics companies established their foothold in the west despite being Japanese, when that still carried a stigma. They did it the old fashioned way, by competing directly in overseas markets. They are now established and have little to benefit from such initiatives – especially in the auto industry where they are again trying to downplay their Japanese-ness due to the (absurd) political reactions against their business practices.

The newer firms will have to prove themselves in their sectors, by competing against established brands. Simply ‘being Japanese’ might give them some boost for a while, but is not a long-term strategy for hanging on to market share or developing brand loyalty.

Google those terms to find the committee’s bilingual site

As I said before, won’t these high-end products have a label attached to them like “Sony” or “NEC” which will immediately identify them as Japanese anyway? (In the case of shochu or wasbi the hiragana will give it away.) I don’t think it escaped any attentive viewer’s attention that the last James Bond movie was essentially a three hour ad for Sony, but I doubt anyone believed that he was using British digital cameras and computers.

It is definitely inspired by similar plans in Britain, Germany, and even Korea as you mentioned, and lots and lots of other nations have jumped on the national tourism bandwagon since it is such a growing field—I remember a ‘come to Iceland’ ad on Washington-area NPR that sounded like it would be really offensive to actual Icelanders.

2 points before bed—1) The idea behind this concept as an export promotion tool is to sell high quality crafts/shochu whatever and brand it as Japanese, especially for countries that see Japanese stuff as either de facto high quality or culturally relevant. Buy native campaigns would not get you very far with upper middle class Thais, thank you very much. and 2) Aceface: Once again nailed it—I get the feeling that the ideas for economic reform that seem to pass against public opposition are made in the name of international competitiveness. But why should Japan rush to boost its international competitiveness (slash taxes for corporations while foisting increased social security/tax burden on regular people and slowly eroding job security, or in this case playing the role of trade association/parent company of last resort to design a single brand for local manufacturers) if there’s no clear idea of what Japan is competing for? I hate to sound like Fujiwara, but it seems like the only proposals that gain water are those that are being promoted either by the American government itself or its followers (like the former President of IBM Japan/Chairman of Doyukai) that want to make Japan into a version of America where the trains run on time or something.

And another thing—I feel like the Japan Brand is only necessary now because there is such a diverse array of ‘brand messages’ coming from different sectors of Japanese society. Back in the 60s, weren’t most Japanese people doing business/studying outside of the country who weren’t leftists pretty much on the same page in terms of how Japan was to be presented to the world?

Also Ace, judging from your immediate response, I have to say you remind me of a certain type of person typically seen at a nomikai (at least according to a late night NHK program): 酔うと国家を担う型

Why I brought up about Korea here is there is a similarity over two nation facing identity crisis,such like
a)end of cold war and shift of political climate Japan toward right and Korea left
b)economic recession in Japan,IMF crisis in Korea
c)social change like higher devorce rate,increase of international marriage and foreign worker in the society,collapse of existing social ladder like competiton for good college,etc
d)rise of China as the regional superpower.

These points require both Japan and Korea reconstruct their self image as a succesful society capable of competing in global arena.

One difference is Korea can mobilize nationalism more easily than Japan(e.g Inter-Korean railway and other Sunshine policy related project that boost pan Koreanism.
Anti Japanese sentiment like battle over sea of what ever,and sports game.)Thus it is easy to capture collective imagination.

While in Japan,all you can do is promote “Beautiful Nation”(Abe Shinzo) or “Style of the nation”(Fujiwara Masahiko)which is politically vague at best.Gov,Ishihara’s Tokyo Olympic do not exactly stir any passion out of Japanese,let alone Tokyoite who do not wish any more mega project.National reform including constitutional revision are politicaly polemic,So I can understand why whole Japan brand thing is strictly remain in the field of commercial advertisement(or perhaps is this conspiracy by DENTSU?)