Benjamin W. Boas

Benjamin W. Boas is an author, speaker, and Cool Japan Producer for Japan’s Cabinet Office. He is the author of From “Cool Japan” to “Your Japan,” and his commentary on culture and soft power has appeared on NHK WORLD and Nikkei News Plus 9. He has advised and collaborated with organizations ranging from Studio Ghibli to The Japan Times, and serves as Tourism Ambassador for Nakano, Tokyo. Across his work, he champions authentic, fan-led cultural exchange—helping audiences discover and celebrate their own Japan. Boas graduated from Brown University and completed a Fulbright Fellowship at Kyoto University.

From “Cool Japan” to “Your Japan” in 2025: What Japan Gets Right—and Wrong—About Cultural Promotion

November 25, 2025November 14, 2025 By Benjamin W. Boas

Drawing on his role as a Cool Japan Producer for the Japanese Cabinet Office, Benjamin W. Boas highlights the need to shift from a government-branded “Cool Japan” paradigm to the more participatory, fan-driven “Your Japan.”

What’s Cool about Cool Japan?: An Insider’s Look at a Domestic Reaction to an International Phenomenon

November 24, 2025May 10, 2019 By Benjamin W. Boas

In this lecture, Benjamin Boas, a Cool Japan Ambassador working with the government’s Cabinet Office, takes a critical look at the history of Japanese culture’s appeal abroad, the ways this appeal is spread and the differing ways the phenomenon is seen domestically and abroad.