Nostalgia, Soft Power and JET

On 17 January Dr. Sharleen Estampador Hughson, an academic and former JET participant, led a fascinating seminar at the Japan Research Centre at SOAS on ‘Nostalgia, Soft Power and the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme’. 

Cultural exchange programmes such as JET are seen as an increasingly important component of wider diplomatic agendas by governments around the world. JET, which enjoyed its 30th anniversary in 2016, is among the largest of such programmes. Dr. Hughson’s paper investigated the experiences of JET Assistant Language Teachers, to explore links between memory, nostalgia and soft power. 

She argued that the JET Programme has been effective under soft power diplomacy because of the individuals’ attachment to their past on the programme through nostalgia. Soft power is the power of attraction through cultural ideas, norms and products and the JET programme is an important part of that agenda. JETs have the opportunity to really become part of their communities, in contrast to being a tourist or student, as they can work in their placements for up to five years. They are able to acculturate or adapt to their new surroundings, picking up Japanese norms, with the ability to compare and contrast their own culture's norms with those of their host communities. They may never become Japanese but they understand their place within that culture.

Her research incorporated her own experiences and those of 24 others who have participated in the JET Programme, as well as previous schemes, from the 1980s-2010s. Participants across these time periods went through similar stages of processing their time on JET, culminating in the commodification of experience through nostalgia. Findings were that JETs had long-term interest in Japan, became more empathetic to others from different backgrounds, demonstrated flexibility in opening themselves up to new experiences, became interpreters of how Japan is conveyed abroad to others and were effective for soft power diplomacy at the grass-roots level. 

Dr. Hughson was an ALT on the JET Programme from 2006-2009 in Ishikawa Prefecture, before interning at the Canadian embassy in Tokyo. She recently completed her PhD on the topic of the seminar at the University of Sheffield’s School of East Asian Studies.

Dr. Hughson’s research represents a naturally fascinating subject to ex-JETs and all those interested in international relations, and it's hoped that more scholarly research will follow in this area. Dr. Hughson was also an organiser of the first JETAA UK Academic Special Interest Group. A discussion with fellow organiser Peter Matanle, Senior Lecturer and Director of Research and Innovation at the School of East Asian Studies, University of Sheffield, followed the seminar. 

Please learn more on SOAS's website.