Fujioka Jingxiang (second from left) introduced the highlights of wearing school uniforms at the "Japanese Culture Festival" held in Bangkok, Thailand in March. (Kyodo)
The picture shows Shizuka Fujioka, who was appointed as "Ambassador Kawaii" by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (Kyodo)
BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) In order to promote the popular culture of young people in Japan, the Japanese government recently sent "lovely ambassadors" led by beautiful women to Thailand and other places to participate in promotional activities.
According to the Kyodo News Agency, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs is actively carrying out related activities about three "Japanese pop culture communicators" (nicknamed "Kawaii Ambassador", that is, the Ambassador of Love) recently appointed to widely publicize the culture of Japanese young people overseas. Among them, Fujioka Jingxiang, an artist known as the "school uniform magician" for leading the trend of school uniforms for female high school students, participated in the activities in Thailand, and the other two will go to Paris in July.
▽ Wear freely and match.
According to the report, Fujioka wore a school uniform and attended the "Japanese Culture Festival" held in Bangkok, Thailand, in March, and taught him the skills of freely matching clothes. The young Thai woman who was present praised "the school uniform is very cute. I want to go to Japan to see. " Influenced by Japanese campus cartoons, the fashion of school uniforms is becoming more and more popular in the local area. It can also be seen from the photographers who seized the favorable position at the front of the venue that the media are quite interested in this.
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to send two other Kawaii ambassadors, Misako Aoki and Yuki Kimura, to Paris, France, to attend the "Japan Expo" held from July 2 to 5. Aoki is a fashion model who advocates the girl’s "Loli style", while singer Kimura is very famous among young people in Harajuku, Tokyo because of her style of overlapping old clothes.
There are also many young people in France who are keen on Japanese animation and cosplay. It is expected that the number of people attending this "Japan Expo" will exceed more than 100,000 last year.
Target overseas young people
In order to make it easier for foreigners to get close to Japan, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has carried out a series of exchange activities through traditional culture and arts such as kabuki and Nero. Recently, it has been noticed that Japanese pop culture such as animation has been welcomed by young people all over the world, and it is very important to target young people who can be called "pro-Japanese factions" in the future and take measures against them, so at the end of February this year, three "Kawaii Ambassadors" were selected as standard bearers.
Prime Minister Taro Aso, who calls himself a "comic geek", set up the "International Comic Award" when he was foreign minister, and personally promoted "pop culture diplomacy". This has also become the driving force for this series of activities.
▽ Must be based on the reality of other countries
However, this new attempt to use "Kawaii" as a slogan also made some people in Japan frown. At the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives on the 24th, Kazuo Maruya of the Komeito Party pointed out: "The Kawaii Ambassadors are wearing miniskirts around the world, hoping that (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) will attract attention and not let this matter be unnecessarily criticized. Some cultures need to spend taxes to spread, but some cultures can spread without deliberate propaganda. "
Kenjiro, Minister of Cultural Exchange of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responded: "It is important for the other country to accept [Japanese pop culture]. We will strive to effectively promote implementation on the basis of fully basing ourselves on local actual conditions. "
Fujioka Shizuka, as a "lovely ambassador", said: "When I go to some countries, as long as there is a person there who thinks I am very’ kawaii’, it will be beneficial to Japanese national interests."
Editor: Chen Chang ‘e