As the first non-Western country that drew even with the West in modernity while showing that it is possible to maintain a unique culture, Japan has more potential soft-power resources than any other Asian country. Today Japan ranks first in the world in the number of patents, third in expenditure on research and development as a share of GDP, second in book sales and music sales, and highest for life expectancy.
日本是第一个在现代化程度上与西方并驾齐驱的非西方国家，同时它也表明，维持独特的文化是可能的。因此，日本比亚洲其他任何国家具有更多潜在的柔性力量资源。如今，日本的专利数量名列世界第一，国民生产总值中用于研发的比重名列第三，书籍和音乐销售名列第二，平均寿命名列第一。在全球最知名的25个品牌中，日本占据三个（丰田，本田以及索尼）。