SAITO, Yoshiomi Associate Professor
Graduate School Department /Course /Field | Cultural Coexistence/Studies on Contemporary Civilizations/Studies on International Society |
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Undergraduate School | Division of Multi-Disciplinary Studies of Civilizations |
Other Affiliation | |
saito.yoshiomi.7a(at mark)kyoto-u.ac.jp | |
Personal Page |

Research areas | Cold War History, British Diplomacy |
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Keywords | Cold War History, Cultural Cold War, Americanization, History of Anglo-Japanese Relations |
Themes | My first book examined the British government’s policy toward détente, focusing on Western alliance politics during the late 1960s and early 1970s. I demonstrated that both the Wilson government and the Heath government prioritized the Atlantic alliance as the basis from which to pursue easing of tensions with the Eastern bloc, while they put emphasis on the cultural dimension of the Cold War, differentiating British attitudes toward détente from those of the United States, France and the Federal Republic of Germany. The second book explored British propaganda policy during the first 15 years following the end of the Second World War. Introducing the concept of the ‘theatricality’ of the Cold War, I investigated the real politics of cultural exchange with allied as well as communist countries. In this context, the British Foreign Office’s Information Research Department, which was established in 1948, was closely analyzed as a critical driver. The propaganda aspect of the Cold War led me to yet another project of Cold War studies: jazz diplomacy. My most recent publication, titled The Global Politics of Jazz in the Twentieth Century: Cultural Diplomacy and “American Music” contextualized the American jazz diplomacy from the viewpoint of 20th century global history. This research examined, on the one hand, how the jazz discourse of the mid-1930s equated jazz with ‘American music’ – which evolved into a discursive weapon of the Cold War diplomacy – while on the other hand it examined jazz’s acceptance outside of America, revealing a variety of jazz interpretation that were not necessarily the same as the ‘American music’ discourse. My current research examines propaganda politics in Cold War Japan. Combining social, cultural, political and diplomatic history’s viewpoints, this study looks at how Japanese domestic politics interacts with the propaganda dimensions of the Cold War. |
Major publications | "‘The country is full of wishful thinkers’: Britain’s Information Research Department and its post-war propaganda operations in Japan, 1948–70", Cold War History, 2021, published online. (https://doi.org/10.1080/14682745.2020.1832992) The Global Politics of Jazz in the Twentieth Century: Cultural Diplomacy and "American Music" (London: Routledge, 2019). The Cold War History of Cultural Infiltration: British Propaganda Policy in Europe and Theatricality (Keiso shobo, 2013) in Japanese Transformation of the Cold War and British Diplomacy (Minerva shobo, 2006) in Japanese On other research works, please see (http://kyouindb.iimc.kyoto-u.ac.jp/e/lM3nF) |
Professional societies/Research and synergic activities | Japan Association of International Relations Japanese Society of International Law |
Teaching Areas |
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Background | Degrees Kobe University Ph.D. in Political Science (2005) University of Warwick M.A. in International Relations (2003) Kobe University M.A. in Political Science (2002) Kobe University B.A. in Law (2000) Posts Associate Professor 2013- Present Kyoto University Associate Professor 2009- 2013 Kanazawa University JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow 2008- 2009 COE Research Fellow 2005- 2007 Kyoto University Reception of JSPS Grant-in-Aid ・Principal Investigator Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) 2017 - 2021 Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) 2013 - 2016 Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) 2010 - 2013 Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows 2008 ・Co-researcher Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) 2011 - 2013 Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) 2010 - 2012 Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) 2010 - 2012 ・Co-Investigator Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) 2007 - 2009 |