Throughout the trip, Chesky describes interactions between Cuban hosts and American guests as “person-to-person diplomacy.” That narrative allows Airbnb travelers to handily comply with the U.S.’s “people-to-people” educational travel visa requirement.

A push by Japan to correct perceived bias in accounts of the country's wartime past is creating a row that risks muddling the positive message in a mammoth public relations campaign to win friends abroad.

The Prime Minister’s Office has recently issued a tender for setting up a new Internet site for “government news.” Observers and officials said the new site is intended mainly for public diplomacy and marketing. Sources familiar with the details said the site will have “considerable power to serve for PR purposes.”