當代日本公眾外交研究－以新媒體的國際傳播運用為例

在新媒體時代下，各國外交單位皆開始使用社群媒體與他國民眾進行溝通交流，日本政府在2011年之後，也開始積極透過新媒體進行國際傳播，以傳遞日本正確樣貌及形塑良好國際形象。本文首先以戰略面、制度面、執行面，整理日本戰後七十多年的公眾外交發展，再歸納出日本公眾外交演變的主要特徵，最後透過「Fanpage Karma」臉書粉絲頁面分析工具，擷取首相官邸英文臉書粉絲頁面的貼文內容及受眾反饋，進一步分析日本公眾外交新媒運用之特色與成效。本研究發現日本政府對新媒體的掌握仍處在摸索階段，僅是將社群媒體視為傳遞資訊的工具而已，不但尚未擬定宏觀的新媒體國際傳播戰略，也沒有利用社群媒體與國際公眾進行雙向的互動交流。儘管如此，日本在進行新媒體國際傳播時，仍具有以下四個特點。第一，日本政府致力闡述日本內政，期能讓外界理解日本國內情勢及立場。第二，日本積極改善自然災害所帶來的負面國際形象，不僅對外展現快速有效的災害應變能力，也傳遞日本重視「公開透明」及「協調共識」民主治理精神，第三，日本對外展現日本在國際間的影響力及貢獻國際社會的能力與意願。第四，日本政府向外界形塑首相和各國高層政要關係良好的形象，同時傳達日本將在此基礎之上，深化日本與各國之間的雙邊關係。在受眾反饋方面，首相官邸臉書粉絲頁面的粉絲數量不多，貼文回應、互動、參與程度皆不是很高，且國際公眾重視日本外交議題，但日本政府貼文內容卻聚焦內政議題，反映出日本藉由新媒體進行公眾外交的成效並不顯著。值得注意的是，日本捕殺鯨魚及海豚的傳統文化將成為日本新媒體國際傳播的另一大隱憂，倘若沒有妥善處理因應，將影響日本未來公眾外交的執行成效。

關鍵字

日本；公眾外交；新媒體；社群媒體；國際傳播

並列摘要

In the era of new media, foreign ministries of many countries have begun to use social media to communicate with foreign people of other countries. After 2011, the Japanese government also proactively conveys Japan’s views, policies and initiatives and shapes a decent global image via new media. The article first summarized 70 years of the development of Japan’s public diplomacy after World War II from the aspects of strategy, institution and implementation, and then summarized main features of the evolution of Japan’s public diplomacy. Ultimately, it extracted posts and feedbacks from English-writing Facebook fan page of Prime Minister’s Office of Japan with a Facebook analytics tool called “Fanpage Karma” and further analyzed the characteristics and effectiveness of the use of new media in Japan’s public diplomacy. The study found that the Japanese government’s grasp of new media is still at exploratory stage and it simply regards social media as a tool to convey information. The Japanese government did not yet formulate a grand new media strategy for international communication, nor did it mutually interact with foreign public through social media. Nonetheless, there are still four features in Japan’s use of social media in international communication. Firstly, the Japanese government was dedicated to explaining Japan’s domestic affairs with an aim to allow the international community to fully understand Japan’s domestic situation and official positions. Secondly, Japan tried its best to improve its negative international image brought about by various natural disasters. Not only did it show its quick and effective disaster response capabilities, but it also conveyed Japan’s emphasis on democratic governance of openness, transparency, coordination and consensus. Thirdly, Japan publicly displayed not merely its international influence and presence but also its ability and willingness to contribute to the international community. Finally, the Japanese government shaped an image of good ties between prime minister and high-level officials of other countries, and conveyed that Japan will deepen bilateral relations between Japan and other countries on this basis. In the aspect of audience’s feedback, the number of fans on Facebook fan page of Prime Minister’s Office of Japan is not large, and fans’ response, interaction and participation are not high. Moreover, what the Japanese government mainly focused on is Japan’s domestic affairs while foreign audience paid more attention to Japan’s foreign affairs. These denote that the effectiveness of Japan’s use of new media in public diplomacy is not significant. Notably, Japan’s traditional culture of killing whales and dolphins will become another major concern for Japan’s use of new media in international communication. If Japan does not handle it properly, it will have a negative impact on Japan’s future public diplomacy.