世論 What Japan Thinks

A not-too-surprising result from a poll from Gallup International conducted in 47 different countries is that overall support for nuclear power dropped from about 25% in favour to just 6%. Note that I cannot find the survey on Gallup International web site, but instead there is a truncated result on a Pakistan affiliate’s web site, then another blog post also from Pakistan.

On a more positive note, 38% are pessimistic about Japan recovering, but 30% expect it to return to the same level, and 18% for it to get stronger. I’m personally half in the 18% camp and half in the 30%; I’d be more optimistic if the government could get its act together, or step aside and let someone more competent lead, but at the moment there’s a definite shortage of people less useless than Naoto Kan.

The blog post also notes that:

Notably the conservative or pessimistic view on resilience of the economy comes from within Japan itself where 55% are somewhat skeptical and its close neighbors, South Korea, where 47% hold this view and China where 67% are pessimistic. These views may reflect a modesty in the Japanese and East Asian cultures about what they can achieve.

For Japan, it’s perhaps that the Japanese are too aware of the current leadership of the country, and as both South Korea and China are not exactly the best of friends with Japan I wouldn’t really expect the average person to be cheering for Japan.