Historic evolution of public relations in Japan

Public Relations Review 39 (2013) 147–155

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Public Relations Review

Historic evolution of public relations in Japan

Koichi Yamamuraa,∗, Seiya Ikari b, Takashi Kenmochi c

a Media Gain, Tokyo, Japan b Tokyo, Japan c Nagoya Bunri University, Japan

a r t i c l e i n f o

Keywords:

Public relations history

Japanese public relations

Japanese corporations

South Manchurian Railroad

East Japan earthquake

a b s t r a c t

This study follows the history of public relations in Japan. Meiji restoration in 1867 marked

the beginning of modernization of Japan, but as democratization did not accompany

modernization, the country was void of autonomous public. The birth of public relations

department, though not in the mainland Japan, can be traced back to the 1920s at South

Manchurian Railroad in Japan-controlled-Manchuria. After the World War II, the U.S. led

Allied Occupation Army urged national and local government to adopt public relations.

Shortly afterwards, ad agencies learned from the U.S. the use of public relations, but as

marketing gained ground, public relations came to be used as marketing support tool. Crit￾icism of environmental pollution in the 1970s, overseas expansion of businesses in the

1980s, collapse of bubble economy and business crises in the 1990s and onward, each

drove public relations in Japan to increase its importance and expand its field.

The Great East Japan Earthquake revealed that some of the problems with organizational

communication in Japan have not changed over time. However, it also showed the emergent

use of social network in Japan as well as the possible formulation of public in the country.

© 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Despite the importance Japan holds in the global economy, there is a dearth of literature written in English on public

relations practice in Japan. Literature on public relations history in Japan is even scarcer. To understand the history of public

relations in Japan, the authors believe that it is important to know the modern history of Japan. The formation of public is

closely associated with democracy and democracy did not accompany Japan’s modernization in the late 19th century.

It is commonly noted that public relations practice was introduced to Japan by the Allied Occupation forces after the

World War II (ex., Cooper-Chen, 1997; Inoue, 2009). However, the birth of corporate public relations department can be

traced back to the 1920s. Some activities that may be regarded as public relations goes back even further. Despite such fairly

long history, public relations practice in Japan has not flourished as in Europe and in the U.S. We have looked at some of

the historical factors that impeded the growth of corporate public relations, and followed the development of the practice

chronically. Building upon past studies, we have tried to summarize the history of public relations in Japan. As this study

covers public relations practices in various organizations in Japan over a long period of time, the research method primarily

employed was the review of books and magazines that cover history, culture, organizations, and communications of Japan.

Although some have previously touched on the existence of public relations department in the South Manchurian Railroad

before the World War II (e.g., Shibazaki, 1985; Inoue, 2009), there has not been any in-depth study of public relations

activities of the South Manchurian Railroad. The authors thought that it was necessary to examine the original documents

∗ Corresponding author at: Media Gain Co., Ltd., Bungei Bldg., 1-4-5 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001, Japan. Tel.: +81 3 55014001.

E-mail address: koichi.yamamura.55@gmail.com (K. Yamamura).

0363-8111/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2013.02.001