"The Image of Japan in the International Community"

As a (slightly delayed) follow up to our discussion on Epstein, you might be interested to know that Japan has decided to end whaling (wow, that was fast). Check out this bit from a Japanese official, which you can see here:

Asked about the motivation behind the sudden announcement, Inoue said, "It cannot be denied that that whaling severely and unnecessarily damages the image of Japan in the international community, due to the strong sentiment against whaling in many countries," speaking through an interpreter. "There is no longer any economic need for Japan to obtain protein from the whales, so it would be irrational and pointless to continue catching whales."

Interesting how Japan can just jump into a different position in the discourse (and with minimal fanfare as well). Interesting also the timing of the announcement--just over a month after the earthquakes.

One thing that we never had the opportunity to discuss is Epstein's use of the concept of "subject positions." Prof PTJ mentioned that he did not find them useful, but I still do not understand why. To me, this example of Japan is the perfect demonstration of the necessity of a "subject position." How else would we be able to explain Japan's rapid shift, and the probable acceptance of it except to say that Japan has put itself into a new subject position? This subject position has a history, a context, and even a language which Japan can now invoke.

What do you think?

(And in full disclosure, for me, writing this post is slightly selfish--I want to understand this before I start babbling about subject positions in my research proposal).