Lesson 30 Question: Is it a good idea for governments
to allocate financial resources to enhance the image of their own country in
various ways on the international stage?
☆Let’s Think
1
To what
purpose do you think a country spends much on the enhancement of its national
image?
2
Which type
of teachers do you like better, teachers who spend money on their appearances
or teachers who spend money on their personal development?
3
What if a
country spent much on the national prestige like an unnecessarily strong
military or spying while its people are starving?
Reference:
North Korea, Russia, the USA, Japan, etc.
4
Do research
on the Cool Japan campaign.
Reference:
A Decade in “Cool Japan” – Over the Offing
(https://overtheoffing.wordpress.com/2021/06/10/a-decade-in-cool-japan/)
5
What
percentage of Japan’s GDP is tourism?
☆Hints for Points
Agree
1.
Large donations to other countries increase goodwill.
2.
Investment may increase.
3.
Students from other countries may increase.
4.
The tourism industry will benefit from the advertisement.
Disagree
1. The
tax money must be returned to reduce problems people are facing, not to a small
industry.
2.
The Cool Japan campaign failed
with a huge deficit. It started as a campaign to promote Japanese contents like
anime and manga, which had already been successful in other countries and did
not need any promotion. Then it expanded to promote other Japanese cultures
like Japanese food and textiles. The marketing was done not by businessmen but
by the government officials and it failed.
3.
Two or three decades ago,
tourists started coming to Japan because Japan had attractions such as
Akihabara the anime town, the beautiful countryside that retain traditional
Japanese life and culture, and good skiing resorts. Now they come to Japan
because Japan is cheap. Neither has anything to do with the government spending
on the promotion of its tourism.
☆Sample Essay Structure
【Thesis】Image control is deceptive, but image is often
everything. Budget allocation of the improvement of the national image is
directed to control the public.
【Supporting
Details】To control its image, the country manages the
media and education. It is so sophisticated that people do not notice that they
are deceived. For example, while no experts can find ways to solve the problem
of the crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima, the Prime Minister Abe said,
“It’s under control,” for the right to hold the Olympics 2020 in Japan. It was
all to create the image among the public both inside and outside of Japan that
Japan was safe enough to have the huge sporting event, while actually it was
not and has not been at all.
【Counterargument-treatment】Tourism accounts for only 1 percent of GDP in the case of Japan and
7.6 percent on average in the world, so the government investment in the area
is generally not worth very much. Also, although advertisements may attract
tourists at first, it is not good image but good experience that increases royal
inbound visitors, and people will come through word of mouth without
advertisement.
【Conclusion】Therefore, budget allocation to national image won’t work for the
real improvement of the economy and the lives of the people. It just scams with their
falsely successful image.
(218 words)
Write your response in 10 minutes. Show each other your responses.
Write down questions or suggestions to each other’s response.
DRAFT
