Well I differ.
Japan was the beneficiary of a sympathy wave from the western world for the use of nuclear weapons and they capitalized well on that. Just like Israel was from Germany
And what soft power are we talking about ? It was the Japanese industry and economy that gave it the sheen...something I said in my previous post.
People did not care for the Shinto idealogy nor do they care about it now...they cared for Toyota or Mitsubishi and the cars they rolled out in an efficient manner.
I repeat without the gun power and economy power, soft power in itself is useless. It will be co-opted/assimilated into the local culture with no credit to the original owner.
Not at all!!!
I don't know if you lived abroad prior to the economic liberalization in India, but if you did then you'd surely realize the massive impact of the Japanese in most aspects of daily life.
Japan's rise as an economic, industrial, technological and pop cultural behemoth had very little to do with what sympathy they may have had in light of WWII and everything to do with their industriousness and magnificent work ethic, which up until then was wasted.
Toyota, Mitsubishi and their ilk did way, way more than just produce cars, they revolutionized industrial production and concepts of management all over the world just as Henry Ford had once done. Virtually any credible organization even today conducts RIE and six sigma reviews. Furthermore, the whole concept of modern appliances and how they were designed, manufactured and integrated into society came from Japan. India sorely missed out on this phase due to the economic policies of the 70s and 80s
Also, I don't know why you think Japanese ideology isn't popular.... look around, Japanese influence is everywhere, they left a big mark on everything from day to day integration of electronics to karaoke to manga porn. A study on the sociological impact of the Sony Walkman still features in graduate schools here. The 80s ushered in a new era of high end animation watched by every child around the world, adolescents and even adults got hooked on to various graphic novels... where did that all come from? The Transformers movies have become very popular, but I guess not too many people are aware of the Japanese contribution to that franchise. Today the entire youth is submerged in the parallel world of gaming, revolutionized by the likes of nintendo and sega, which needless to say are Japanese. Even Hollywood owes immense homage to Japanese pop culture, especially the Wachowskis. After the US, Japan has had by far the most influence upon modern culture.
Ironically, the influence they exerted over global culture became far greater
after they abandoned their lethal weapons.