Music and politics in Japan have rarely been closer. From the government’s use of AKB48 member Haruka Shimazaki in a military recruitment advertising campaign to its funding of pop culture as a form of “soft power” through initiatives like Cool Japan, music has been used by the establishment to advance various goals. 

In the Japanese government’s new budget, one small item stands out: a $5 million grant to Columbia University in New York to fund a position for a professor of Japanese politics and foreign policy.