Nissan Seminar: Words That Move: Emotions in Abe Shinzō’s Foreign Policy Rhetoric (Professor Raymond Yamamoto, Aarhus)

Convener(s): Professor Hugh Whittaker and Professor Kristi Govella

This presentation is based on a collaborative research project with Tadashi Iwami (Hokkaido University) and Marc Barcelos (Aarhus University), exploring how Japan’s longest-serving prime minister Abe Shinzō strategically used emotional rhetoric to garner international support for his Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) vision. The study introduces an innovative methodology using Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT), a machine learning model capable of detecting and analysing syntax-sensitive emotional expressions in texts. Alongside presenting key findings, the talk offers a critical reflection on the opportunities and limitations of AI-based approaches to discourse analysis of Japanese texts, highlighting the important role Japan Studies can play in shaping scholarly engagement with digital transformation and computational methods in the humanities and social sciences.

Raymond Yamamoto is Associate Professor in the Department of Global Studies at Aarhus University in Denmark, where he teaches courses on contemporary Japanese politics and international relations in the Asia-Pacific. He is also Adjunct Fellow at Pacific Forum, a leading Asia-focused think tank based in Hawaii. His research focuses on Japan’s foreign policy, with particular attention to the critical role of Official Development Assistance (ODA). More recently, he has developed a growing interest in the role of emotions in international relations. For his latest publications and research activities, please visit https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/persons/raymond.yamamoto%40cas.au.dk.