TOKYO—In the Japanese government’s new budget, one small item stands out: a $5 million grant to Columbia University in New York to fund a position for a professor of Japanese politics and foreign policy.
The endowment—Tokyo’s first such donation to a U.S. university in more than four decades—is part of a new push by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ’s government to enhance Japan’s profile overseas. It comes as China and South Korea have both poured government funding into establishing footholds at U.S. academic institutions, with rapid growth in particular of China’s Confucius Institute-funded programs.
“There is a fear that Japan is losing out in an information war with South Korea and China and that we must catch up,” said Kan Kimura, a political professor at Kobe University. The Confucius Institute now has a presence at 97 universities in the U.S. Their expansion has raised concerns at American universities that their academic neutrality and freedom over studies of China may be compromised.
Seoul has recently boosted its budget for its King Sejong Institute, allowing it to add programs at the University of Hawaii and the University of Iowa.
Japanese government officials say their courting of educational institutions is in part to counter its rivals’ moves. The grant to Columbia came amid concerns that the teaching staff is thinning at the university’s Japan programs, which are among the largest in the U.S. A spokesman for Columbia University, Robert Hornsby, declined to comment.
‘We have always paid the utmost respect to academic freedom.’
—Eiji Taguchi, the Japan Foundation
Japan’s campaign comes as East Asia prepares for an emotionally charged period to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II this year and as Tokyo’s rifts with Beijing and Seoul over its wartime past show little signs of healing.
Soft-power initiatives aren’t new to Japan: In 1973, Tokyo endowed $1 million each to fund Japan studies programs at 10 elite universities, such as Columbia, Harvard and the University of Michigan.
As Japan’s own fiscal situation worsened, it has reduced overall spending though it has continued funding some research programs and Japanese-language education. For example, the Abe Fellowship, named after Shintaro Abe, a former foreign minister and Mr. Abe’s father, was set up in 1991 and supports a dozen or so political and socioeconomic researchers every year.
This year, Mr. Abe’s government has more than tripled the budget allotment for “strategic public relations” from a year earlier. Of the added ¥50 billion ($423 million), around $65 million is set aside for nurturing scholars and experts friendly to Japan. The $5 million grant for Columbia will be part of Tokyo’s supplementary budget for the fiscal year ending in March, expected to be approved shortly. It will be monitored by the Japanese consulate-general in New York, Foreign Ministry officials said.
Tokyo also plans to add Japanese-language programs, send young Japanese to study and work in the U.S. and ramp up efforts to influence global opinions of Japan.
The rollout of the latest PR initiative hasn’t been smooth. Tokyo has acknowledged its diplomats contacted a major U.S. textbook publisher last month to request a change of wording in a high-school history textbook about Asian women forced to serve at Japanese military brothels during the war. New York-based McGraw-Hill Education said it had rebuffed the request.
“There is a lot that modern Japan can be proud of,” said Thomas Berger, associate professor of international relations at Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. Still, he said, “I fear that Abe’s efforts to change the way the outside world views modern Japanese history is both futile and counterproductive.”
Mr. Berger is a recent recipient of the Abe Fellowship, which hasn’t prevented him from criticizing Mr. Abe’s policy.
“We have always paid the utmost respect to academic freedom and we will continue to do so,” said Eiji Taguchi, executive vice president of the government-run Japan Foundation, which supports cultural and academic exchange programs. Mr. Taguchi said there was no restriction on how the money was spent as long as it was used for Japan-related programs.
The Columbia gift is earmarked to endow the position held now by Gerald Curtis, an expert on Japanese politics and foreign policy but who is set to retire this year.
Prof. Curtis said in an email, “It is wonderful that the Japanese government recognizes that Columbia University has been the leading university outside of Japan for Japanese studies and that this gift helps insure its ability to continue to be a leader in this field.” He declined to discuss the grant in detail.
Japanese officials say they have held discussions with other U.S. universities about funds for their research programs. They declined to disclose further details.
Japan Takes Soft-Power Push to U.S. Campus - WSJ
