Screening Japan Abroad: Situating the Emergence of Japanese Film Festivals in the Asia-Pacific

This chapter examines the historical evolution of the Japanese Film Festivals (JFFs) in the Asia-Pacific from their emergence as small-scale film screening activities in the late 1970s to professionalised film festivals by 2020. It identifies a range of cultural, political and diplomatic interests surrounding the evolution of JFFs and outlines the narratives of the festivals’ origins in Thailand, Australia and Malaysia. The chapter provides an overview of the circumstances that have resulted in the JFF model in operation today by contextualising how its development is influenced by several interconnected discourses: Japan’s shifting cultural policy priorities and approaches to cultural diplomacy; the global cultural flows in which Japanese popular culture is participating; discourses on Japanese soft power; and the rise of East Asian cultural industries. The chapter locates JFFs at the intersection of Japanese cultural policies and the geopolitical importance of the Asia-Pacific region for Japan since the 1980s. In particular, the region has emerged as especially significant to the continuous expansion of JFFs, as it is where these events have progressed most rapidly in terms of scope, programs and outreach. The advancement of JFFs articulates Japan’s shifting view of the role of culture in foreign policy and the country’s historically constituted and asymmetrical relation with other nations in the region since World War II.