世論 What Japan Thinks

With one of the hottest topics in Japan being Prime Minister Hayoyama’s repeated dithering over the Futenma base in Okinawa, and with a frequently-appearing theme being the desire of Okinawa to be a nation again, I thought I should look up some data to see what the situation really is. The best I managed to find was a survey entitled “Okinawa Identity”, one which took place in 2005, 2006 and 2007. I couldn’t find the original report, but this blog post extracts some key points from a newspaper column on said survey.

Demographics

On the 3rd and 4th of November 2007 2,000 people were telephoned, with 1,201 choosing to reply. How the numbers were chosen was not reported, not was any further demographic information.

Research results

Q1: How do you see your identity? (Sample size=1,201)

Okinawan	41.6%
Japanese	25.5%
Okinawan Japanese	29.7%

Q2: Should Okinawa be independent? (Sample size=1,201)

Yes	20.6%
No	64.7%
The Okinawans themselves should decide	0.8%

Q3: How do you regard the Japanese government’s stance on Okinawa? (Sample size=1,201)

Friendly	15.3%
Somewhat friendly	6.7%
Can’t say either way	15.3%
Somewhat unfriendly	10.9%
Unfriendly	43.8%

Q4: How satisfied are you with the Japanese government’s policies on Okinawa? (Sample size=1,201)

Satisfied	9.9%
Somewhat satisfied	8.0%
Can’t say either way	8.5%
Somewhat dissatisfied	11.8%
Dissatisfied	56.5%