世論 What Japan Thinks

[part 1][part 2]

Here is another detailed yet interesting poll conducted on behalf of the Cabinet Office Japan on the subject of diplomacy, in particular the points of diplomacy that the Japanese goverment itself finds important, and that they hope the populace do to.

Demographics

Between the 4th and 14th of October 2007 3,000 adults from all over the country were randomly selected from the voter rolls to take part in this survey. 1,757 people, or 58.6%, were available and agreed to take part in face-to-face interviews. 52.4% were female, 9.3% in their twenties, 14.5% in their thirties, 18.3% in their forties, 22.3% in their fifties, 20.7% in their sixties, and 14.9% aged seventy or older. As an additional data point, 40.1% had never been abroad, 56.1% had been abroad for a short trip, and 3.9% had stayed in one country for more than three months.

This is a great survey, one of the most detailed I’ve seen for a while. It also features the first bit of blatent propaganda that I’ve seen in a Cabinet Office survey. Note in Q3 where I have mention ‘the so-called “Reparations”‘. This is actually a literal translation of the Japanese, いわゆる「過去の清算」, iwayuru “kako no seizan”, complete with quotation marks.

Q3 also shows nearly nine in ten interested in the North Korean kidnap victims, very different from my foreign friends, who are almost to a man (or a woman) sick fed up with the coverage of the issue and how Japanese petulance on this matter threatens to wreck much of the progress being made. I’d put a loony on the other side of the water armed to the back teeth with conventional and nuclear missiles much higher on my list of priorities. I also notice the lack of a question on how profits from pachinko are sometimes funnelled to the North Korean regime.

Research results

Q1A: Do you have friendly feelings towards the United States of America? (Sample size=1,757)

Feel friendly	30.3%
Feel a little friendly	45.4%
Don’t feel very friendly	14.2%
Don’t feel friendly at all	8.6%
Don’t know	1.5%

Q1B: Do you have friendly feelings towards Russia? (Sample size=1,757)

Feel friendly	1.7%
Feel a little friendly	13.0%
Don’t feel very friendly	45.9%
Don’t feel friendly at all	35.7%
Don’t know	3.7%

Q1C: Do you have friendly feelings towards China? (Sample size=1,757)

Feel friendly	6.7%
Feel a little friendly	27.3%
Don’t feel very friendly	36.0%
Don’t feel friendly at all	27.5%
Don’t know	2.6%

Q1D: Do you have friendly feelings towards South Korea? (Sample size=1,757)

Feel friendly	14.9%
Feel a little friendly	39.9%
Don’t feel very friendly	26.5%
Don’t feel friendly at all	16.2%
Don’t know	2.6%

Q1E: Do you have friendly feelings towards South-East Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, etc)? (Sample size=1,757)

Feel friendly	9.0%
Feel a little friendly	35.0%
Don’t feel very friendly	31.6%
Don’t feel friendly at all	18.3%
Don’t know	6.0%

Q1F: Do you have friendly feelings towards the Indian Subcontinent (India, Pakistan, etc)? (Sample size=1,757)

Feel friendly	4.0%
Feel a little friendly	22.4%
Don’t feel very friendly	40.8%
Don’t feel friendly at all	26.4%
Don’t know	6.5%

Q1F: Do you have friendly feelings towards Australia and New Zealand? (Sample size=1,757)

Feel friendly	21.6%
Feel a little friendly	40.3%
Don’t feel very friendly	20.4%
Don’t feel friendly at all	12.8%
Don’t know	4.8%

Q2A: Do you think Japan’s current relationship with the United States of America is amicable? (Sample size=1,757)

Amicable	19.7%
A little amicable	56.6%
Not very amicable	16.7%
Not amicable at all	83.6%
Cannot say either way	1.2%
Don’t know	2.1%

Q2B: Do you think Japan’s current relationship with Russia is amicable? (Sample size=1,757)

Amicable	1.0%
A little amicable	20.4%
Not very amicable	50.8%
Not amicable at all	19.1%
Cannot say either way	1.7%
Don’t know	6.9%

Q2C: Do you think Japan’s current relationship with China is amicable? (Sample size=1,757)

Amicable	1.9%
A little amicable	24.5%
Not very amicable	45.6%
Not amicable at all	22.3%
Cannot say either way	1.7%
Don’t know	3.9%

Q2D: Do you think Japan’s current relationship with South Korea is amicable? (Sample size=1,757)

Amicable	6.5%
A little amicable	43.4%
Not very amicable	33.0%
Not amicable at all	12.1%
Cannot say either way	1.1%
Don’t know	3.9%

Q2E: Do you think Japan’s current relationship with South-East Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, etc) is amicable? (Sample size=1,757)

Amicable	6.4%
A little amicable	44.8%
Not very amicable	28.1%
Not amicable at all	7.1%
Cannot say either way	2.1%
Don’t know	11.6%

Q2F: Do you think Japan’s current relationship with the Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, etc) is amicable? (Sample size=1,757)

Amicable	3.2%
A little amicable	35.2%
Not very amicable	36.8%
Not amicable at all	9.8%
Cannot say either way	2.3%
Don’t know	12.5%

Q2G: Do you think Japan’s current relationship with Australia and New Zealand is amicable? (Sample size=1,757)

Amicable	16.3%
A little amicable	51.5%
Not very amicable	16.2%
Not amicable at all	4.6%
Cannot say either way	1.6%
Don’t know	9.9%

Q3: Which of the following matters regarding North Korea are you interested in? (Sample size=1,757, multiple answer)

Japanese kidnappings problem	88.7%
Nuclear problem	75.1%
Missile problem	58.0%
Political regime	44.6%
Drug smuggling and other illegal activities	44.1%
Food aid	38.9%
Unidentified vessel problems	36.7%
Negotiations to normalize diplomatic relations between Japan and North Korea	30.7%
North-South issues	26.8%
Visits of Japanese spouses to North Korea	19.5%
Asylum seekers problem	18.7%
The so-called “Reparations”	18.5%
Trade and other economic exchange	11.6%
Cultural exchange	6.5%
Sports exchange	6.1%
Sightseeing	4.0%
Other	0.5%
Nothing in particular	3.2%
Don’t know	0.6%

Q4: Do you think that the Foreign Ministry proactively informs the public on foreign policy or other aspects of their activities? (Sample size=1,757)

Think so	2.4%
Think so to some extent	19.6%
Don’t really think so	49.0%
Don’t think so at all	25.3%
Don’t know	3.8%

[part 1][part 2]