Time to wave goodbye to diplomatic reliance on ‘Japan hands’

Nancy Snow is a scholar of public diplomacy and strategic communications, focusing on Japan and the Indo-Pacific. She is the author of “The Mystery of Japan’s Information Power,” published in Japanese.

For too long, Japan’s international engagement strategy has leaned heavily on a narrow circle of elites. These include the seasoned in-country bureaucrats and industry leaders who often parachute into university professorships and the so-called Japan hands, a diplomatic and academic class of foreigners well-versed in Japan’s postwar orthodoxy. While these individuals have served essential roles in postwar diplomacy and business relations, Japan’s domestic and global challenges require a broader coalition of actors.