103 Comparison Study between American Studies of Japanese Politics

and Japanese Studies of American Politics: An Indonesian Perspective

Comparison Study between American Studies of

Japanese Politics and Japanese Studies of American
Politics: An Indonesian Perspective

Dedy Permadi

This paper will focus on the comparison between American Studies of

Japanese Politics and Japanese Studies of American Politics especially
from Indonesian perspective. It means the elaboration will talk about how
Indonesian academicians and Indonesian academics curricula have
arranged and elaborated these two academic areas. It is a very important
topic because in Indonesia and many other countries, American Studies of
Japanese Politics and Japanese Studies of American Politics are the main
topics of studies, especially on International Relations Studies.

In Indonesia, Japanese politics is one of the most important topics on

American studies; moreover, American politics is one of the most
important topics on Japanese Studies. Therefore, it will be an important
topic if we make an analysis on how American studies were elaborated
and how it sees Japanese politics, and on the other hand, how Japanese
studies were elaborated and how it sees American politics. From this
analysis, we can explore the differences and similarities of both studies.

This comparison depends on many factors like the dynamics of

Japan-America relation, the agent who have developed the American
studies and Japanese studies in Indonesia and also Indonesia’s national
interest to Japan and America. In fact, there was a close relationship
among Indonesia, America and Japan. So, it is a complicated analysis that
could result in a specific and special perspective from Indonesia.

The Curriculum in Indonesia

In Indonesia, the study on Japan and the study on the United States of
America are generally categorized into two sections, the study in the
socio-cultural field and the study in the political field only. Generally,
universities teach subjects on Japan and the United States of America
104 Comparison Study between American Studies of Japanese Politics
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mainly in the International Relations Science. In Universitas Gadjah

Mada for example, the study on Japan is being taught in several subjects
such as Japanese Politics and Government, Japanese Foreign Politics,
Japan and International Economy, and also Japanese Society System.
Meanwhile the study on the United States of America is given through the
subjects the United States Politics and Government, and the American
Foreign Policy (based on the curriculum of the International Relations
Department of Universitas Gadjah Mada in 2001, applied until now). In
other universities, the subjects on Japan and the United States of America
are not being taught specifically. For instance University of Indonesia
only discusses these topics in the United States’ Global Politics and East
Asia’s Development Political Economy (Based on the curriculum of the
International Relations Department of University of Indonesia in 2006,
applied until now).

However, it has to be understood that the inclusion of Japanese and the

American politics in a high education curriculum is not a definite
parameter of the development of this study within a country. In reality,
the discussion on Japanese and the American political issues is still an
interesting topic in various discussions and publications in Indonesia.

The interesting part in the development of the study on Japan and the
United States in Indonesia is that the substance between the two that are
strongly related. In the study on Japan, the American politics is a highly
important topic and vice versa.

In the study on the United States of America in Indonesia, Japan’s politics

has a strategic position especially on the subject on the United States of
America’s Foreign Politics. In this subject, it is shown that Japan is one of
important countries for the United States of America both historically or
concerning contemporary issues. However, Japan is not the most
dominating country in discussions on the study on the United States of
America. There are still countries beyond Japan that become dominant
topics such as China, European Union or the Middle East.

Meanwhile in the study on Japan in Indonesia, the American politics also

obtains an important position especially in the subjects of Japan and
International Economy and Japanese Foreign Politics. If given attention
to, there are so many topics on the American politics in those subjects.
Seen from this fact, from the aspect of curriculum, it can be said that the
discussion on the American politics in Japanese studies tends to be more
dominant compared to the discussion on Japanese politics in the studies
on the United States of America.
105 Comparison Study between American Studies of Japanese Politics
and Japanese Studies of American Politics: An Indonesian Perspective

Substance of the Study

The comparison of Japanese and the American study from the perspective
of the curriculum that has been previously discussed is certainly not
powerful enough to prove that there is a strong relationship between the
two studies. Therefore, the comparison between the two should also be
seen from the substance of the subjects being taught in the classroom.
There are at least three main substances in the Japanese and the American
studies in Indonesia which show interconnection between the two.

First (Period I). Japan and the United States of America have a unique
relationship, especially historically. It should be remembered that the
United States of America is the country that forces Japan to open itself
towards the outside world. On 31 March 1854, the arrival of Commodore
Matthew Perry and the “Black Ship” of the United States’ Navy has
forced Japan to open itself to the Western World through Kanagawa
Agreement (Arnold, 2007). Furthermore, these two countries were also
involved as main actors in the World War II. In 1937, the Japanese
invasion to Manchuria has led the Second Sino-Japan War (1937 – 1945)
which has caused an oil embargo towards Japan by the United States of
America on 7 December 1941(Worth, 1995); Japan attacked the United
States’ Naval base in Pearl Harbor, and stated a war against the United
States of America, the United Kingdom, and Netherland. The attack on
Pearl Harbor has led the United States of America into World War II.
After a long military campaign in the Pacific, Japan has lost the territories
it had during the beginning of the war. The United States performed
strategic bombing towards Tokyo, Osaka, and other major cities. After the
United States of America dropped atomic bombs in Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, Japan finally surrendered unconditionally to the Allied Forces
on 15 August 1945 (the Victory Day against Japan) (World of Education,
2004).

This historic review is automatically an important part of the Japanese

study on the United States’ politics and in the American study on
Japanese politics in Indonesia. From the perspective of the Japanese study,
the United States of America is a major threat in defense and security.
Also, if seen from the perspective of the American study, Japan is also the
main threat for the United States of America during that time. Therefore,
seen from the historical aspect, Japanese study on the American politics
and the American study on Japanese politics is dominated by the
perception of threat.
106 Comparison Study between American Studies of Japanese Politics
and Japanese Studies of American Politics: An Indonesian Perspective

Second (Period II), Japanese study on the American politics and the
American study on Japanese politics is also interesting since in its
development these two countries have a very close relationship, even a
joint defense agreement pact. In 1947, Japan enforced a new Japanese
Constitution. Based on this Constitution, Japan was set as a country
which embraces pacifism and the practice of liberal democracy (Coleman,
2007). The United States’ occupation towards Japan officially ended in
1952 with the signing of the San Francisco Agreement. However, the
United States’ troops remained in their important bases in Japan,
especially in Okinawa. The United Nations also officially accepted Japan
as its member in 1956. This fact showed that the two countries also
possess political intimacy.

Important developments in the two countries’ relationship truly influence

the substance of studies on Japan and the United States of America.
Perception of threat which dominated the previous discussion no longer
remained as the main topic of discussion. On the contrary, the two studies
are strongly related not due to the perception of threat that they share, but
the perception of mutual trust that the two countries have for each other.

Third (Period III), in the contemporary era, Japan and the United States
are the world’s largest economic powers. After the Second World War,
Japan experienced rapid economic growth with the average growth of its
Gross Domestic Product reaching 10% per year for four decades. As an
economically developed country, Japan has the second largest Gross
Domestic Product after the United States, and is included in the top three
for its purchasing parity (IMF, 2009). In foreign trade, Japan ranks
number 4 as the world’s largest exporter and number 6 as the world’s
largest importer. As a developed country, the citizens of Japan have a high
living standard (the 8th highest in the Human Development Index) and its
live expectancy rate is the highest in the world according to the United
Nations’ estimation (United Nations, 2006). In technology, Japan is
highly developed in telecommunications, machinery, and robotics.

Japan’s economic power that is growing stronger has made it one of the
main focuses of discussion in American studies in Indonesia. It is
undeniable that the United States of America is getting more concerned
about this development. In reality, Japan is one of the United States’
heaviest competitors in production, distribution, and even consumption
sectors. The flood of Japanese products in the United States is one of the
strong indicators of this economic competition. Therefore, it is not a
surprise that studies on Japanese politics these days is the main concern
of those studying the United States.
107 Comparison Study between American Studies of Japanese Politics
and Japanese Studies of American Politics: An Indonesian Perspective

The United States’ concern is not only applicable in the economic sector.
American studies on Japan also focus on the analysis of the development
of Japanese politics. This is because the development of Japanese politics
is possible to have a huge impact towards the United States. For example
in verse 9 of the amendment and the issue on the United States’ military
base in Japan. These two issues are important for the United States
considering the survival of the United States’ control towards Japan is
determined by those issues.

Meanwhile, Japanese studies on American politics also remained an

important study considering the political intimacy between the two that
continues until this moment. Political changes happening in the United
States would certainly bring an impact on the United States’ foreign
policy towards Japan. The transition of Bush’s administration to Obama’s,
for example, has been a crucial issue in Japanese studies.

Of all the points mentioned, it can be known that in reality Japan and the
United States of America posses a close historical, political, and
economical relationship. The three aspects that have been previously
mentioned are the focuses of American and Japanese studies in Indonesia.
Therefore, seen through Indonesian perspective, Japanese political study
in America and American political study are dominated by discussion on
the two countries’ dynamic relationship pattern from time to time.

Japanese Studies is More Interesting: Diplomacy and Soft Power

The next question which has to answer is why the Japanese Studies more
interested both in United States and in Indonesia? There are so many
reasons to answer this question. But, the most important thing is the
diplomacy of Japan. This paper also has an argument that Japan uses
diplomacy effectively by all of resources of diplomacy in this Country, in
International Relations Studies, called multi-track diplomacy.

There are various definitions of diplomacy; the following are some of

them. First, diplomacy is the organized relation between countries 1.
Second, diplomacy can be understood as the means of communication
between two or more countries through representatives to reach the goal
of foreign politics. Third, diplomacy is the art of communication using
propagandistic ways to reach the goal of foreign politics.
Fourth, diplomacy is defined as the communication between two people
or more either through mediator or not in one negotiation to reach the
goal of foreign politics. Last, Ivo D. Duchacek defines diplomacy as the
108 Comparison Study between American Studies of Japanese Politics
and Japanese Studies of American Politics: An Indonesian Perspective

practice of foreign politics of a country through negotiating with other

countries. From those definitions, we can draw a red line that diplomacy
is the art or the means of communication in the relation among countries
which is organized to reach the goal of a country’s foreign politics.

Diplomacy has its elements and functions 1. The elements of diplomacy

are more on the essential matters in diplomacy, while the functions of
diplomacy are the goals to reach in diplomacy. The elements of
diplomacy comprise: sending representatives to certain forums, countries,
or regime; propagandizing; negotiating; observe and report; listening
post; and reaching the goals of foreign politics. Some of the functions of
diplomacy are to make up certain relation which was formerly fairly bad
(or even bad) to prevent wars, create cooperation to establish opinions,
and implement the foreign politics of a country.

Vienna Convention about diplomatic relation (1961) divides the leaders

of diplomatic mission into three groups. Each of the first two groups
consists of the ambassadors and ministers. Those two diplomatic mission
leaders are accredited/ recognized officially by the head of the host state.
Meanwhile, the third group is the charges d’affaires that are accredited by
the minister of foreign affair of the host state1. The relation can be carried
out when both countries have been involved in an agreement.

H.J. Morgenthau proposes a concept of diplomacy that he considers as the

ideal diplomacy. He argues that diplomacy should be the main
consideration in all problems. Every goal of foreign politics should be
based on the national interest supported with enough “power”. Besides,
diplomacy should give priority to other nation’s point of view. All nations
should be interested in compromising about problems which are not vital
with other countries. Gun force is also a means of foreign policy, but it is
not the main means. Lastly, government is the leader of public opinion,
not the slave of public opinion 1.

Based on that concept, we know that actually Japan has so many

instruments to achieve their goals by diplomacy, included to make the
Japanese Studies become a favourite study around the world. This
descriptions bellow could show us the various tracks of diplomacy,
named multi-track diplomacy. What is multi-track diplomacy?

…Multi-Track diplomacy is a conceptual way to view the process

(Based on the understanding that Multi-Track Diplomacy is the “way
to view” this writing assumes this term as a “perspective”. Actually,
this concept first emerged to see the process that was running in US
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as “a whole elephant”. However, in its development, this perspective

can be used universally). That term refers to a conceptual framework
we design to reflect the variety of activities that contribute to
international peacemaking and peace building (Diamond, 1996).

Some extremely complex methods are known in the efforts to maintain

and create world peace, one of which is through multi-track diplomacy. In
this method, the actions to maintain the world peace focus on positive
peace that is the long-term-peace creating positive impacts in a long time
(permanent).

In international level, the impacts can be the continuous economic

development, social justice, political participation, etc. In the realm of
positive peace, it is understood that the causes of conflicts and wars are
poverty and colonization. Meanwhile peacemaking itself can be
understood as the whole activities comprising peacekeeping, peace
building, peace studies, peace education, and conflict resolution.

There is a conception in multi-track diplomacy saying that a country’s

success in diplomacy is determined by not only the diplomacy done by
government actors but also the actors outside the government that can be
empowered to support the diplomacy in that elite level. In other words,
diplomacy is not only done by governmental institutions but also all
segments in society. Therefore, foreign affair ministries create partnership
with every components in society both domestic and foreign components
to succeed foreign politics.

... According to Louise Diamond and John Mc Donald (1994)

categorize the levels in diplomacy into 9 levels / track, which are:
Track One: Government, Track Two: Nongovernment/Professional,
Track Three: Business, Track Four: Private Citizen, Track Five:
Research, Training, and Education, Track Six: Activism, Track Seven:
Religion, Track Eight: Funding, Track Nine: Communications and
Media.

Actually this concept is in line with the categorization in analyzing

India’s foreign politics made by Richard L. Park based on policy making
process point of view. He categorizes the actors who can play in foreign
policy as governmental agencies and non-governmental agencies 8. The
difference between those two categorizations is that Diamond is more
detailed (compared to park) in categorizing non-governmental agencies
into 8 diplomacy tracks.
110 Comparison Study between American Studies of Japanese Politics
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Track One: Government. The official track of government is understood

as a form of conventional diplomacy, which is diplomacy with
country-nation as its main actor. It is formal and bureaucratic.
Conventional elements and system are applied here, like diplomat, Japan
embassy, Japan consular, etc around the world. Track two:
Non-government/ Professional. Non-governmental/professional track has
actors who play personally (non-institutional) and without compensation
although it is still done in the corridor of academician and professional.
We know that the academicians and professional in Japan is very active to
promote cooperation among the actors around the world. Track three:
Business. Behind its orientation to get profit, Japanese business also plays
role in maintaining international relation and creating the short cut for the
smoothness of international communication. The basic assumption of the
relation between business and peace is that basically business is very
beneficial for all parties internationally. Japan business is an integral part
of political and social order, besides if people run their business with
social and environmental awareness, business can encourage positive
changes in transnational system, for example the establishment of
business diplomacy education program. The last is that business will not
run successfully without peace.

Track Four: Private Citizen. The fourth track points out the role of grass
root society in creating the world peace. The role of Japan citizen here
can be exchange programs, private voluntary organizations, advocacy,
professional groups, etc. Track Five: Research, Training, and Education.
The fifth track is through the research, education, and training program to
transfer the issues related with issues of conflict and peace. The
asassumption of this track is that through education, research, and
training, it is hoped that people can be more aware and do real actions to
get involved in international phenomenon.

Track Six: Activism. This track means the advocacy to change views and
policies through political actions. The political actions are meant to give
input so that the political process can result in precise policies. Track
Seven: Religion. The seventh track is through the religious teaching. It is
hoped that the religious values will make people’s morality grow to
maintain the peace. Confucianism and Maoism are very important in the
progress of Japanese culture. It is also very interesting for the foreigner.

Track Eight: Funding. The eighth track is funding: peacemaking through

providing resources, that is to provide financial support for various
activities of the reconcilement institutions. Fund, such as ODA (Official
Development Assistance), suppliers also automatically get involved in
111 Comparison Study between American Studies of Japanese Politics
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determining the priorities/ agenda that will be brought to institutional

efforts in creating peace. Japan ODA is the biggest ODA for Indonesia
and many other countries; it is the important thing that could show the
contribution of Japan aid in another country. The last track, Track Nine:
Communications and Media is the involvement of media to communicate
issues about peace, conflict resolution, and international politics and
relation. The media being discussed here can be both printed and
electronic media. Japan also has so many media to introduce Japanese
Culture to another country, in fact, it is could be very popular media in
Indonesia (and another country, I think). The next analysis could show
more facts about this track.

The nine tracks are described by Diamond in the picture below:

The Nine Tracks of Multi-Track Diplomacy (Diamond, 1996)

In the concept of multi-track diplomacy, there are 12 principals that

should be held by every actor as follow:

1. Relationship-Building strong interpersonal and intergroup relations

throughout the fabric of society.
2. Long-term commitment-Making an ongoing commitment to people
and to processes that may take years to come to fruition.
3. Cultural synergy-Respecting the cultural wisdom of all the parties
and welcoming the creative interaction of different cultural ways.
4. Partnership-Modelling collaborative process by partnering with
local parties and with other institutions and coalitions.
112 Comparison Study between American Studies of Japanese Politics
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5. Multiple technologies-Utilizing a variety of technologies, as

appropriate, and creating new methods, as needed, to meet the
unique needs of each situation.
6. Facilitation-Assisting parties in taking responsibility for their dreams
and destiny.
7. Empowerment-Helping people become empowered agents of change
and transformation within their societies.
8. Action research-Learning from all that we do and sharing that
learning with others.
9. Invitation-Entering the system where there is an invitation and an
open door.
10. Trust-Building relationships of mutual trust and caring within the
system.
11. Engagement-Acknowledging that once we enter a system we become
a unique part of it an engaged, caring, and accountable partner.
12. Transformation-Catalyzing changes at the deepest level of beliefs,
assumptions, and values, as well as behaviours and structures
(Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy, 2004).

In my opinion, Japanese studies in several parts of the world are strongly

influenced by the diplomacy undertaken by the Japanese government and
all of stakeholders in Japan. Japan successfully used all of track in
diplomacy.

In Indonesia, for example, although Indonesia has had a bad experience

with Japan, but for the present time there are almost no people of
Indonesia who hate Japan. Even the fact that they encountered was a
growing influence of Japanese culture and education in the life of
Indonesian society. Japan became one of the interests of the most popular
area studies, especially among teenagers and academicians. This
condition also occurs at the college level where the study of Japan is
increasingly in demand. Even the percentage of lecturers / researchers
who are studying in Japan is very large, ranging from 30 to 50 percent.

While some segments of the youth in Indonesia are also very fond of the
Japanese lifestyle. This is shown by so much public interest to Japanese
cultures such as Japanese movies, Japanese comics, Japanese-style
clothing, Japanese, and so on.

If we look at into historical perspective, Japanese culture includes the

interaction between native Jomon cultures strong with influences from
abroad that followed. At first, many Chinese and Korean influence,
starting with the development of Yayoi culture around 300 BC.
113 Comparison Study between American Studies of Japanese Politics
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Combined Greek traditions and Indian culture, art and religious affect
Japan since the 6th century AD, with the introduction of Mahayana sect
of Buddhism. Since the 16th century, prominent European influence,
followed by the United States influence that dominated Japan after World
War II.

Japan helped develop the original culture and unique, in the arts (ikebana,
origami, ukiyo-e), crafts (sculpture, pottery, gift (bunraku puppets,
traditional dance, kabuki, noh, rakugo), and traditions (Japanese game,
Onsen, sento, tea ceremony, Japanese garden), and Japanese food.

Now, Japan is one of the exporters of the biggest pop culture. Anime,
manga, fashion, film, literature, video games, and Japanese music
received rave reviews all over the world, especially in Asian countries.
Japanese youths find creative trends and styles. In fact, those trends affect
the whole world. Youth market is very bright with a test to the user items
of new electronic, in which style and function is determined by Japanese
users, before being considered for release to the world.

Recently the first Japanese export another valuable commodity culture:

sportsman. Popularity of Japanese baseball players in the United States to
raise awareness of Western citizens is against everything about Japan.

Japanese people usually like to eat their traditional foods. Most of the TV
show in the evening is devoted to the discovery and earnings quality
traditional food. Japanese Food print name around the world with sushi,
which is usually made from various kinds of raw fish combined with rice
and wasabi. Sushi has a lot of fans around the world. Japanese food relies
on the transitional seasons, with cold noodles and served sashimi in the
summer, while hot ramen in the winter.
Above facts can be a good reason why the people of Indonesia have a
positive perception of Japan. This phenomenon in international relations
glasses can be described as soft power.

Before having deeper understanding about soft power, the basic concept
of “power” and the position of soft power among the other types of power
need to be known first. Usually power is related with the ability to impose
self-desire over other’s desire. In politics and military fields, this concept
is recognized as the power to coerce or hard power. In the other pole,
there is what is called as soft power, or the power to persuade, that
usually occur in the worlds of ideas, values, education, culture, religion,
music, and literature.
114 Comparison Study between American Studies of Japanese Politics
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To bridge those two poles of power, there is a “gap” that is called as

smart power, the space between “hard power” and “soft power”. Being
smart in using power is the strategy to offer “software” supported with
the potentials of the usage of “hard power” through “smart power”. It is
common to do with money, trade, or financial benefit, even position as
the retaine. Every country has soft power, hard power, and smart power.

“Soft” is the all power of culture, literature, teaching, and belief offered
as life values that can be enjoyed by other nations. “Hard” is the physical
power of military, police, attorney and court, and authority that is
legalized as the tools for law enforcement. “Smart” is the power of
economic, finance, trade, and natural resources potentials (Institute for
Multi-Track Diplomacy, 2004).

… Soft power rests on the ability to shape the preferences of others.

In the business world, smart executives know that leadership is not
just a matter of issuing commands, but also involves leading by
example and attracting others to do what you want. Similarly,
contemporary practices of community-based policing rely on making
the police sufficiently friendly and attractive that a community wants
to help them achieve shared objectives (Nye Jr., 2004).

From the definition above, the development of Soft Power concept can be
found in the book Soft Power: the Means to Success in World Politics
written by Josep S. Nye Jr.as follows: Most people conceive hard power
as military and economic. This power is often used to press other parties.
Yet, sometimes a party cannot rely on this power to achieve its goal. This
method is what often called as second face of power. A country can
achieve its goal in international sphere because there are other countries
that follow this country. The important thing in this case is to prepare an
agenda and the efforts to raise the sympathy or interest of other countries,
not only by military force or economic sanction. The method to make
other parties follow the desire of a party without pressing them is called
as soft power.

The important point in soft power is the ability to form other parties’
perception, for example how a political leader is able to raise sympathy
from her/his members without considering tribes, religions, etc. However,
soft power is different from influence because the concept of influence
may be related with hard power. It is because a country can improve its
influence toward other countries by using military or economic force. The
concept of soft power is more than merely persuasive or argumentative
ability. In a more simple expression, soft power can be called as attractive
115 Comparison Study between American Studies of Japanese Politics
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power.

However, the concepts of hard power and soft power can be considered as
related each other because in both concept, there is the ability to influence
other parties’ actions to achieve certain goals. The difference lies on the
level of power used. Hard power uses command power, such as pressure,
sanction, and threat while soft power uses co-optive like values, cultures,
and policies.

In the realm of international politics, soft power is very close to the term
“world opinion”, which a country should create by raising attention and
sympathy from other countries. This concept had ever been applied by
world leaders such as Woodrow Wilson, Roosevelt, and Kennedy. The
example of the creating of soft power in international politics is through
the sending of reconcilement army or through financial aid. Besides, it
also can be done through the institution formation like when U.K. applied
the gold standard or when U.S. initiated the formation of IMF, WTO, and
UN.

The source of soft power itself can be categorized into three forms, which
are culture, political values, and foreign policy. Culture contributes
specific characteristics in a group of society. It can be divided into two,
which are high culture such as literature, art, and education that are
addressed to certain people and popular culture that focuses on mass. The
example of soft power usage can be seen from U.S.’ actions, so that it can
be the most successful country to spread its culture throughout the world,
e.g. McD and Hollywood artists’ culture.

Conclusion

A conclusion that can be taken from this essay is that in Indonesia,

Japanese and American studies have a very close connection. This
connection is shown by the curriculum applied in Indonesian universities
and the substances taught in the subjects. Related to Japanese studies on
American politics and American studies on Japanese politics in Indonesia,
both of them have several similarities, among them is that these studies
are the main concern in International Relations studies. Both of them
have also received major attention in discussions and publications in
Indonesia. However, even though both of them are interesting subjects to
study, there has not been any specific study on both of them. These two
studies are merely sub-themes of larger themes taught in the universities.

Moreover, if seen substantially, Japanese studies on American politics and

116 Comparison Study between American Studies of Japanese Politics
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American studies on Japanese politics are highly influenced by the

dynamics of the relationship between the two countries. These dynamics
can be divided into three major periods with different characteristics. The
characteristics in the first period was dominated by perception of threat
towards security and defense of the two countries, the second period was
dominated by mutual trust through joint defense pact, and the third period
was again dominated by perception of threat. However, the perception of
threat in the third period was not related to defense and security, but more
to the perception of threat in terms of economic rivalry.

Meanwhile the basic difference between the two is the portion of

discussion in the lectures. Even though both of them are interesting
subjects of discussion, if seen from the aspect of curriculum, it can be
said that in Indonesia, the discussion on the American politics in Japanese
studies tends to be more dominant (having a bigger portion) compared to
the discussion on Japanese politics in American studies. Therefore,
Japanese studies in Indonesia talks more about the American politics, but
the American studies in Indonesia talks less about Japanese politics. This
is not a surprise since in the perspective of developing countries such as
Indonesia; the position of the United States in international politics is still
very strategic.

Japanese Studies is very popular in the world, especially Indonesia, due to

the success of diplomacy that Japan had been built. Diplomacy is run well
through the various instruments and actors, such as government, private
sector, employers / business, media, funding, and so on. Through all the
instruments and actors, the image of Japan in the international world is
very good, so many people who admire the Japanese state. This
phenomenon is known as soft power. Therefore, the success of Japanese
studies in various parts of the world cannot be removed from the success
of Japanese soft power.
117 Comparison Study between American Studies of Japanese Politics
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Japanese studies on American Politics

American studies on Japanese Politics

The dynamics of the relationship between Japan and the United States of
America highly influences the substances of Japanese and American
studies in Indonesia
118 Comparison Study between American Studies of Japanese Politics
and Japanese Studies of American Politics: An Indonesian Perspective

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www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2006/English.pdf
World of Education, 2004, Japanese Instrument of Surrender,
http://library.educationworld.net/txt15/surrend1.html