An Interview with Paul Madden ポール・マデン氏インタビュー

Paul Madden CMG FRCS was British Ambassador to Japan from 2017 to 2021 and is currently Special Advisor to the Centre for Japanese Studies at the University of East Anglia. We look forward to welcoming him back to Norwich on Thursday 15th December to give the Sainsbury Institute’s Christmas Third Thursday Lecture. He has just published a new book, Sankyu Japan (our Japanese students will get the pun), based on a series of 39 tweets he put out before completing his term as Ambassador in Tokyo. Simon Kaner caught up with him as he was about to board the Queen Elizabeth for a lecture tour across the Indian Ocean to Singapore, where he was previously High Commissioner, a post he also held in Australia. While Ambassador in Japan, Paul visited all 47 prefectures, ensured that visitors enjoyed the Rugby World Cup, oversaw the response to the Covid-19 pandemic and attended the enthronement of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan

What motivated you to write this book?

I was looking back over a total of eight years in Japan with the Foreign Office, first at the start of my career and then latterly as ambassador, and thought 39 (sankyu in Japanese) tweets about some of my favourite things in Japan would be a good way to reflect on the country that I have come to enjoy so much. Tweets seemed a good way to go, and I divided them into five categories: nature, including Mount Fuji, the Inland Sea and the lakes of Hokkaido; places, including the cultural capitals of Kyoto and Kamakura, where I spent a very happy year learning Japanese; the built environment, such as castles and gardens; unique aspects of Japanese culture, so kabuki and kanji; and distinctive aspects of everyday life in Japan, like izakaya and onsen.

What was your favourite tweet from the 39 in the book, and the most revealing response you received?

I don’t really have a favourite, but the one on castles was the first, and proved to be the most popular. I was amazed about how many people followed them – over 30,000 in all. I was amused by one of the responses to the castles one which was an advert for deodorant socks with gripping soles – great for the steep ladders that you have to ascend to reach the higher levels of many Japanese castles, usually with your shoes swinging precariously in a plastic bag held in your hand. My comments on chopsticks also generated some interesting responses. After 30 years of living in Asia it is maybe not so surprising that I can indeed eat with chopsticks, but it didn’t stop people commenting on the great expertise I had developed in this area.

How important is the role of Twitter and other social media in diplomacy today?

Twitter and social media generally are now very important to the Foreign Office, and we are all encouraged to make use of it. We had some people in the media section at the Embassy who work exclusively on this. We used it in two main ways: to influence and to inform. In terms of influencing, take a look at our coverage about Ukraine for example. Not so many Japanese politicians are active on Twitter – maybe a generational thing, though Kono Taro is a very skilled and hugely effective Tweeter. As for informing, we put out a series of do’s and don’t’s in advance of the Rugby World Cup in autumn 2019, including raising awareness that having tattoos might prevent you from gaining access to many onsen. We also worked with UK-based comedian Yuriko Kotani who I had seen at the Edinburgh Festival who created a series of amusing scenarios for us around potential intercultural mistakes, which proved very popular.

As Ambassador you met the Emperor, our new King, and British and Japanese Prime Ministers: do you have any reflections on the place of constitutional monarchies in the contemporary world?

When I was first in Japan in 1989 I was on the streets for the enthronement of the Heisei Emperor, among the crowd watching the motorcade go past. It was pretty amazing to then actually attend the ceremony for the Reiwa Emperor, who I met a few times as Crown Prince, and who has a great affinity for the UK having studied at Oxford. And we had Prince Charles, now of course King Charles, stay with us for the occasion. As for constitutional monarchies versus elected presidents, I have lived with various systems in Japan, the UK, Singapore and Australia, where of course there is a big debate about becoming a republic. My question is, what would you replace it with? I don’t think there is a single solution that would work everywhere – it draws on a long history and cultural circumstances in each case. One thing I would say, though, is that a constitutional monarch is a symbol around which people can unite, not always the case with more divisive political figures. But you need people with the right personal commitment and style. The former Emperor and the late Queen clearly had this, and from what I have seen so far, so do the new Emperor and King.

Do you have

any advice for students who have aspirations for a career in the Foreign Office?

If you are interested, just go for it. It is a very competitive process with some hard exams, but it is not impossible to get in. The British foreign service today is much more diverse than it was when I joined. Most of the UK’s G7 and UN ambassadors are now women, and there is roughly gender parity in the graduate intake. There is also much greater ethnic diversity, reflecting the nature of contemporary British society. Many people now join later in life, in their late 20’s, having lived abroad for a while, learned some languages, and experienced living in different countries and cultures.

It can be somewhat disruptive for family life – you will spend maybe two thirds of your career living abroad – and for partners’ careers. But if you have an interest in foreign affairs, enjoy engaging with different cultures, and have an interest in serving your country, then you should apply. And now of course it is the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, following a merger with the Department for International Development – so there are great opportunities to contribute to overseas development too.

And lastly, where can we get hold of the book?

The best way is to download an e-book version from Amazon. It is published by the Kawauso Press. Or you can email Thekawausopress@gmail.com and order a hard copy.

Interview by Professor Simon Kaner, Director of the Centre for Japanese Studies [on study leave 2022-2023]