This book examines the cultural aspects of U.S.-Japan relations during the postwar Occupation and the early years of the Cold War and analyzes their effect on the adoption of democratic values by the Japanese. Matsuda finds that the results were mixed: Japan is an electoral democracy but intellectually remains elitist and submissive—in part because of U.S. efforts to reinforce the domestic importance of intellectual elites. The author is especially concerned with the development of American Studies in Japan, and U.S. efforts to foster it. Soft Power and Its Perils brings forward a great deal of new information about the creation and funding of new institutions of educational and cultural exchange.

Table of Contents:
Contents Preface Introduction Unconditional Surrender and the Democratization of Japan Defining Culture and Cultural Relations The Basic Theme of This Study The Organization of This Volume Chapter 1 Occupation Reform as an American Cultural Offensive The Arrival of MacArthur, a Christian General The U.S. Occupation of Japan as a Cultural Offensive The Civil Information and Education Section The Stoddard Education Mission Other CI&E Measures to Democratize Japan U.S. 'Missionary' Diplomacy by the Book The CI&E Translation Programs and the Early Cultural Cold War Administrative Incompetence Besets American 'Generosity' Chapter 2 The Cold War, 'Reverse Course,' and Rise of Nationalism 'Reverse Course': The American Version 'Reverse Course' : The Russian Version The Resurgence of Nationalism in Postwar Japan Conservatism in Postwar Japan The American Response to Japanese Nationalism Chapter 3 The Making of a 'Soft Peace' and Japan's 'Proper Place' The Appointment of John Foster Dulles, the Man of the Hour The Basic Principles of a Soft Peace The Conditions Underlying a Soft Peace Japan's Alternative Peace to the Proposed U.S. Peace Initiative The Peace and Security Treaties with Japan as 'Consensual Contracts' Chapter 4 John D. Rockefeller 3rd in Tokyo: Cultural Exchange versus Cultural Imperialism Settling into Tokyo Rockefeller and the Cultural Offensive Cultural Interchange The Three Principles of Cultural Interchange The Three Facets of Cultural Programs Drafting the Rockefeller Report on Cultural Interchange Chapter 5 The Rockefeller Report: Countering the Communist Menace The Rockefeller Report The U.S. Government Response to the Rockefeller Report Pushing the Institutionalization of Cultural Interchange in Japan The Japanese Take Action: The Cultural Center Preparatory Committee The Public Image of a Cultural Center--A U.S. Propaganda Organ? Rockefeller Grows Impatient--One More Trip Back to Japan Fund Raising and the Rockefeller Foundation Naming the Cultural Center Chapter 6 The U.S. Cultural Offensive and Japanese Intellectuals To Win the Hearts and Minds of the World The 'Spiritual Vacuum' and Japan's Vulnerability to Communism The Rising Fear of Communism in Japan Japanese Views of America and American Culture Japan and the Japanese in American Eyes The Cultural Cold War and Promoting Historical Studies in Japan Promoting Area Studies in America and Abroad Chapter 7 Making Japanese Pro-American: The 1950 American Studies Seminar in Tokyo The Founding of the First Amerika Gakkai The Road to the 1950 American Studies Seminar in Tokyo: The American Initiative The Japanese Response to the American Initiative Seeking MacArthur's Support for the Proposed Tokyo Seminar Forming the Steering Committee The 1950 Tokyo-Stanford Seminar in American Studies Reviews of the 1950 American Studies Seminar American Studies and Democratizing Japanese Higher Education Chapter 8 The Kyoto American Studies Seminar and American Soft Power A Quick Response from the Rockefeller Foundation Seeking a Sponsoring University on Behalf of the Kyoto Group The Age-Old Tokyo-Kyoto Rivalry: Whirlpool in a Pond Reviews of the 1952 Kyoto American Studies Summer Seminar The University of Illinois Drops Out of the Picture A New Proposal for the Kyoto Seminar of 1954: A Turning Point The University of Michigan as a Sponsoring Institution The Effect of Provincialism on Kyoto-DMshisha Collaboration Irreducible Rupture and Relationship of Inconvenience Legacies of the American Studies Seminars in Japan Promoting American Studies: Americans Working behind the Scenes American Soft Power and Its Perils Chapter 9 Occupation Reform, 'Shallow Democracy,' and Consumerism The Council on Foreign Relations The Council's Study Group on Japan The Definition of Democracy Assessing the Democratic Experiment in Occupied Japan Democracy and Christianity The Influence of Christianity in Postwar Japan Japanese Perceptions of Democracy in Japan 'Democracy' versus Consumerism in Postwar Japan A Consumer Revolution in the Making Soft Power and American 'Generosity' in Postwar Japan Conclusion Fighting Communism by Establishing Cultural Relations with Japan The U.S. Cultural Offensive and Its Unintended Consequences The Future of U.S.-Japan Relations? Appendix A The State of Scholarship on U.S.-Japan Relations Appendix B The Tokyo-Stanford Seminars in American Studies Appendix C The Kyoto American Studies Seminars Bibliography Index Illustrations