Japan’s clickbait diplomacy points to soft power rethink in Europe

Two buttoned-up Japanese ambassadors in Europe have become unlikely social media stars, thrilling their hosts by posting viral content about their adventures in French and British culture.

But is there a deeper strategy at play?

“It’s really a new trend in Japanese diplomacy,” said Eva Pejsova, the Japan chair at the Free University of Brussels, who pointed out that Japan is reeling from a diplomatic spat with China over Taiwan and is also facing a more erratic US, until recently its closest ally and security partner.

“Japan is going through an extra difficult situation geopolitically; it has to build up its defence. They are very much aware that it has to be accompanied by a proper strategic communication,” Pejsova said.

That strategic communication, at least in the UK and France, has emerged as a massively ramped-up social media presence.

Hiroshi Suzuki, the Japanese ambassador to the UK, has grabbed attention on trips across the country, downing pints of bitter, singing the Welsh national anthem, and enjoying traditional fish and chips.

He has described himself as a Beatles fan, thrown himself into local lingo, and dressed up as a character from the British TV series Peaky Blinders.

His counterpart in Paris, Hideo Suzuki (no relation), only arrived in December 2025, but has already soared in popularity.

Key to his fame are his viral snaps posing with mouth-watering French patisseries, and sightseeing everywhere from Versailles to Mont Saint-Michel, sometimes flicking through an Asterix comic book, racking up thousands of reposts on X.

The lovebombing stands in stark contrast to the behaviour of Donald Trump’s envoys in Europe, who have picked fights with European governments, from Paris to Brussels. Unlike the Japanese career diplomats whose focus is on building cross-cultural bridges, the Americans launch into tendentious political debates.

Political scientist Kazuto Suzuki – again, no relation – said the new social media presence was a consequence of the failure of Japanese soft power up until now.

“Initially, the foreign ministry was trying to promote anime and manga,” said Suzuki, a professor at Tokyo University, who knows Hideo Suzuki personally. “Actually, this public promotion was not really cool, not appealing, and not influential.”

While he said the social media push was likely the ambassadors’ personal choice – rather than a “collective, systemic approach” pursued by the Japanese foreign ministry – he put it in the context of a more complex Japan-US relationship.

“For many years, Japan was looking at only the US,” he said. “We need to diversify, and we need to have more friends.”

It has been noticed back home, too. “It’s the talk of the town. People are now watching both ambassadors’ activities on the social network. And they are a hot issue,” said Suzuki, the political scientist.

Not all the efforts are coming from the Japanese side. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited Japan in January, and 11 EU commissioners travelled to the country last year, to strengthen the diplomatic partnership between the two powers.

Pejsova, the Brussels-based researcher, also said their social media posting might also be an attempt to show a softer side of Japan.

The country is undertaking a hard-edged defence build-up because of today’s security threats, which China’s ‘Wolf Warrior’ diplomats are exploiting rhetorically, invoking the Second World War to suggest Japan is again becoming dangerous.

(mm, vib)