>>12581744It's exotic but recognisble, and above all it is succesful economically and culturally but has been integrated into the Western International system. Japanese-ness doesn't challenge western pratices on human-rights, democracy etc and is firmly a status-quo power. This in tern leads to more meaningful cultural and economic ties. The phenomina of 'Cool Japan' (Or Japonisme in the 19th century) has been a think since Meiji, but has really stepped up since the 1980's for these reasons.
You can contrast it directly with China, which looked like it might have taken this sort of place at one point. After WW1, China fell apart but American interest in China surged. There were far more cultural exchanges, Chinese students in Universities etc, and Japanese Imperialism directed at China helped to make China the ever-popular under-dog. If the Kuomintang had been succesful in the civil war post-WW2 I'm convinced that Japan's soft-power dominance would be nowhere near as comprehensive, as it stands the Red's won, American felt betrayed (they voted out Truman because he 'lost' China somehow) and alot of U.S.-China ties were lost. Even nowadays, China's economic miracle and integration into the world have bought it considerable hatred and scorn abroad, partly because it challenges the West in terms of democratic norms and human rights (ie genocide, Hong Kong etc) but also geo-politically challenges U.S. dominance of the Pacific. In this environment, China and Chinese culture despite making up Billions of people with millions all over the world, fails to make a serious dent in comparison to Japanese popularity. There's alot more to it then this, but it's a good country to compare to. I don't know much about South Korea, but I believe they've been very succesful in recent years for reasons similar to Japan.
