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1、Japan Reaches OutThursday, Nov. 20, 2008By Hannah Beech / Tokyo1. When Kensuke Onishi decided to use his foreign university degree and fluent English to help internally displaced refugees in Kurdish Iraq, his Japanese mothers friends told her they understood if she wanted to weep. After all, shouldn
2、t a dutiful Japanese son return home and work for a big company, like the droves of salarymen before him? But in 1996, Onishi founded one of Japans largest international NGOs, Peace Winds Japan, which operates everywhere from Sudan to East Timor （东帝汶）. Today, the 41-year-old Osaka (大阪日本本州岛西南岸港市)nati
3、ve has noticed that his countrymen no longer consider helping less fortunate foreigners a shameful occupation. Two former Peace Winds alumni now serve in the Diet, while Onishi recently has been fielding job queries from disillusioned investment bankers. People in Japan live in such comfortable, pea
4、ceful conditions, says Onishi. I think more Japanese are realizing that its our duty to help out overseas and bring some of our values to the world. 2. Is the world turning Japanese? Even as Japans domestic economy slips into recession and its politicians dither endlessly, the countrys overseas infl
5、uence is reaching new heights. Limited by a postwar constitution from developing military power, Japans international clout relies on soft power, the term coined by Harvard professor Joseph S. Nye in 1990 to describe how countries get what they want through attraction rather than coercion. Today, a
6、generation of idealistic Japanese is attempting to sway （影响） the world through cultural, social and economic means. Japan doesnt tend to trumpet its efforts understandable given the nations imperial past and historic disregard for national boundaries. When a Japanese real estate firm snapped up Rock
7、efeller Center in the 1980s, the deal unleashed unease among some Americans, who feared that Japan was literally taking over America. But this time around, its campaign for global hearts and minds has been far more successful. According to a BBC poll this year, Japan ranks second in the world when i
8、t comes to a positive global image. (Germany barely edged out Japan for the No. 1 spot, while the U.S. was seventh.) Soft power is a very strong force, says Heizo Takenaka, Japans former Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy （经济财政担当大臣）. If we have the right political leadership, it can be
9、 even more powerful. 3. Japans charm offensive is taking shape on several fronts （领域 = field of activity）. Cash-flush Japanese banks, which have only just emerged from their own decade-long debt crisis, are infusing money into distressed companies such as Morgan Stanley. Japan Inc. is going on anoth
10、er of its famous investment sprees abroad, opening factories and representative offices across Africa and Asia. In October, the countrys central bank even offered part of its nearly $1 trillion in reserves to financially strapped nations like Iceland. In November, Japan also expressed willingness to
11、 lend up to $100 billion to the International Monetary Fund. But it isnt just money thats being spread around. Because Japans financial system is the least tainted at the moment, says Japanese parliamentarian Kotaro Tamura, we have the opportunity to help save the world and spread a message of socia
12、l responsibility. 4. Thats new. Until recently, the idea of Japanese values conjured up little more than a picture of workaholic company drones （嗡嗡声）. But throughout the world even in places where Japanese colonialists once unleashed brutal wartime campaigns the worlds second largest economy has sud
13、denly been thrust into the unfamiliar position of exemplar. Developing countries such as Vietnam are studying how Japan refashioned its war-ravaged economy into a technological powerhouse that still maintains its cultural identity. Industrializing nations are looking for ecological guidance from a p
14、lace that has managed to become an economic giant while still embracing a conservationist ethos. Still others gravitate toward Japan because of its trendy comic books and, not least, for its generous checkbook. Even though Japan has in recent years scaled back its foreign-aid commitments, the nation
15、 is still the top bilateral donor to many developing countries, including Cambodia and Nepal. 5. Japan is benefiting because of what it isnt. The worlds renewed love affair with the nation has blossomed just as many nations are growing wary of the rising influence of Asias other superpower: China. U
16、nlike Japan, China has done little to mask its global natural-resources grab. As a result, Japan outranked China in a June survey of soft-power effectiveness in six countries by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Far from China eclipsing Japan, as many once thought, the Middle Kingdoms emergence has actually reawakened international admiration of its neighbor. Theres a strong perception that Chinas not doing enough for peoples rights,
