Word: japanned
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...world turning Japanese? Even as Japan's domestic economy slips into recession and its politicians dither endlessly, the country's overseas influence is reaching new heights. Limited by a postwar constitution from developing military power, Japan's international clout relies on soft power, the term coined by Harvard professor Joseph S. Nye in 1990 to describe how countries "get what [they] want through attraction rather than coercion." Today, a generation of idealistic Japanese is attempting to sway the world through cultural, social and economic means. Japan doesn't tend to trumpet its efforts - understandable given the nation's imperial past...
...Japan's charm offensive is taking shape on several fronts. Cash-flush Japanese banks, which have only just emerged from their own decade-long debt crisis, are infusing money into distressed companies such as Morgan Stanley. Japan Inc. is going on another of its famous investment sprees abroad, opening factories and representative offices across Africa and Asia. In October, the country's central bank even offered part of its nearly $1 trillion in reserves to financially strapped nations like Iceland. In November, Japan also expressed willingness to lend up to $100 billion to the International Monetary Fund...
...little more than a picture of workaholic company drones. But throughout the world - even in places where Japanese colonialists once unleashed brutal wartime campaigns - the world's second largest economy has suddenly been thrust into the unfamiliar position of exemplar. Developing countries such as Vietnam are studying how Japan refashioned its war-ravaged economy into a technological powerhouse that still maintains its cultural identity. Industrializing nations are looking for ecological guidance from a place that has managed to become an economic giant while still embracing a conservationist ethos. Still others gravitate toward Japan because of its trendy comic books...
...Japan is benefiting because of what it isn't. The world's renewed love affair with the nation has blossomed just as many nations are growing wary of the rising influence of Asia's other superpower: China. Unlike Japan, China has done little to mask its global natural-resources grab. As a result, Japan outranked China in a June survey of soft-power effectiveness in six countries by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Far from China eclipsing Japan, as many once thought, the Middle Kingdom's emergence has actually reawakened international admiration of its neighbor. "There's a strong...
...Japan Paradigm As a kid growing up on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, Alimansyar knew Japan stood for one thing: really hip stuff. His parents' generation might have looked askance at the historic aggressor, given its wartime record in East Asia. But for Alimansyar and other younger Indonesians, Japan represents a nation that transformed itself in record time from vanquished pauper to cutting-edge innovator. Today, Alimansyar teaches Japanese at the University of North Sumatra, and the school's rapidly growing Japanese-language program is filled with 500 students who are often lured by Japanese cars, electronics and anim...