世論 What Japan Thinks

[part 1] [part 2]

The Cabinet Office Japan recently conducted a survey looking at diplomacy in Japan. This is a regular yearly survey, and last year I translated it in two parts, here and here.

Demographics

3,000 adult members of the Japanese public were selected at random from resident registries to be interviewed face-to-face between the 9th and 19th of October 2008. From the sample, 1,826 people, or 60.9%, were available and completed the survey. 54.1% of the sample were female, 10.0% were in their twenties, 15.9% in their thirties, 15.6% in their forties, 20.3% in their fifties, 21.9% in their sixties, and 16.3% aged seventy or older. Additionally, 4.6% had lived overseas for more than three months, another 57.3% had travelled overseas, and 38.1% had never been overseas.

If you have been reading Japan news you may have seen some coverage of this poll, although they only dipped into the first two questions below for the article. There’s a lot of good information in part 2 that has been almost completely ignored by the foreign media, so be sure to check that out too.

Research results

Q1A: Do you have friendly feelings towards the USA? (Sample size=1,826)

Feel friendly	29.0%
Feel a little friendly	44.2%
Don’t feel very friendly	15.8%
Don’t feel friendly at all	9.0%
Don’t know	1.9%

Q1B: Do you have friendly feelings towards Russia? (Sample size=1,826)

Feel friendly	2.0%
Feel a little friendly	11.1%
Don’t feel very friendly	44.7%
Don’t feel friendly at all	38.7%
Don’t know	3.6%

Q1C: Do you have friendly feelings towards China? (Sample size=1,826)

Feel friendly	7.0%
Feel a little friendly	24.8%
Don’t feel very friendly	32.4%
Don’t feel friendly at all	34.2%
Don’t know	1.6%

Q1D: Do you have friendly feelings towards South Korea? (Sample size=1,826)

Feel friendly	13.3%
Feel a little friendly	43.8%
Don’t feel very friendly	24.9%
Don’t feel friendly at all	16.0%
Don’t know	2.1%

Q1E: Do you have friendly feelings towards India? (Sample size=1,826)

Feel friendly	4.8%
Feel a little friendly	27.7%
Don’t feel very friendly	33.7%
Don’t feel friendly at all	26.5%
Don’t know	7.4%

Q1F: Do you have friendly feelings towards Europe? (Sample size=1,826)

Feel friendly	14.1%
Feel a little friendly	43.5%
Don’t feel very friendly	22.5%
Don’t feel friendly at all	14.6%
Don’t know	5.4%

Q1G: Do you have friendly feelings towards Africa? (Sample size=1,826)

Feel friendly	3.3%
Feel a little friendly	25.7%
Don’t feel very friendly	35.8%
Don’t feel friendly at all	28.1%
Don’t know	7.1%

Q1H: Do you have friendly feelings towards South America? (Sample size=1,826)

Feel friendly	5.1%
Feel a little friendly	29.0%
Don’t feel very friendly	33.5%
Don’t feel friendly at all	25.9%
Don’t know	6.5%

Q2A: Do you think Japan’s current relationship with the United States of America is amicable? (Sample size=1,826)

Amicable	18.1%
A little amicable	50.8%
Not very amicable	21.9%
Not amicable at all	6.2%
Cannot say either way	1.3%
Don’t know	1.7%

Q2B: Do you think Japan’s current relationship with Russia is amicable? (Sample size=1,826)

Amicable	1.0%
A little amicable	19.6%
Not very amicable	49.5%
Not amicable at all	22.9%
Cannot say either way	2.1%
Don’t know	4.9%

Q2C: Do you think Japan’s current relationship with China is amicable? (Sample size=1,826)

Amicable	2.5%
A little amicable	21.1%
Not very amicable	42.0%
Not amicable at all	29.9%
Cannot say either way	1.8%
Don’t know	2.6%

Q2D: Do you think Japan’s current relationship with South Korea is amicable? (Sample size=1,826)

Amicable	6.7%
A little amicable	42.8%
Not very amicable	33.0%
Not amicable at all	12.9%
Cannot say either way	1.8%
Don’t know	2.8%

Q2E: Do you think Japan’s current relationship with India is amicable? (Sample size=1,826)

Amicable	5.5%
A little amicable	38.0%
Not very amicable	31.5%
Not amicable at all	11.1%
Cannot say either way	2.6%
Don’t know	11.3%

[part 1] [part 2]