EDITORIAL
Feelings between neighbors
Two recent polls on grass-roots perception -- one in Japan, China and South
Korea, and the other in Japan and the United States -- offer a helpful clue in
putting Japan's relations with these other countries in a perspective wider
than government-level relations. The survey conducted by Kyodo News in mid-May,
with some 1,000 people responding each in Japan, China and South Korea, show
that our neighbors look at Japan with critical eyes.
In China, 83 percent of the pollees say they feel little or no warmth toward
Japan. The corresponding figure in South Korea is 75 percent. Both figures
represent a worsening of sentiment toward Japan since the previous poll in
2002. At that time, people who felt little or no warmth toward Japan accounted
for 67 percent in China and 69 percent in South Korea.
By contrast, 48 percent in Japan hold either some or strong feelings of warmth
toward China; and 58 percent toward South Korea. Interestingly, while the
figure for China represents a decrease of six percentage points from the 2002
poll, the corresponding figure for South Korea has gone up by five percentage
points probably due to the "Hanryu" boom or heightened interest among Japanese
in South Korean movies and TV dramas.
In the other poll conducted in early July in Japan and the U.S., to which some
1,000 people responded in each country, 52 percent of the Japanese pollees say
the U.S. government cannot be trusted, an increase of 26 percentage points from
a similar poll in 1991. By contrast, 59 percent in the U.S. regard the Japanese
government as trustworthy.
Americans' general warm feeling toward Japan is not reciprocated by Japanese.
While 81 percent in the U.S. say they feel some warmth or have a strong warm
feeling toward Japan, only 68 percent in Japan have such a feeling toward the
U.S.
The polls seem to indicate that national leaders' behavior and attitude
strongly affect people's perception of the countries led by them. In the case
of Japan-U.S. relations, President George W. Bush's unilateralist diplomacy and
security policy, as represented by the Iraq war, apparently has caused
apprehension among Japanese people.
Concerning the relationship between Japan, on the one hand, and China and South
Korea, on the other, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to
Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and 13
other convicted class-A war criminals as well as 2.46 million Japanese war
dead, apparently has influenced Chinese and South Koreans' chilly perception of
Japan. Other likely causes for such a perception are state-screening approval
of a nationalist history textbook and a territorial row over Takeshima Island
with South Korea and a separate one over Senkaku Islands with China.
Eighty-six percent of the Chinese pollees and 82 percent of the South Korean
pollees say Mr. Koizumi should not visit Yasukuni Shrine. Although he explains
that he makes a pledge of not repeating war when he visits Yasukuni Shrine, the
poll indicates that Chinese and South Koreans do not accept his explanation and
take issue with the Yasukuni visit itself, irrespective of what he thinks or
prays at the shrine.
There is a strong possibility that China's anti-Japanese education and
campaigns have affected the people's perception of Japan. Still, the poll
results indicate that a national leader must take utmost care in his behavior
so that people of other countries do not take him as callous toward their
feelings.
Even in Japan, opponents of Mr. Koizumi's Yasukuni visit are larger in number
than supporters (41 percent against and 31 percent for) -- a reversal of the
2002 poll findings. At that time, 33 percent opposed and 54 percent supported
his Yasukuni visit.
To improve bilateral relations, 57 percent in China call for solving the issue
of the historical perception, which concerns Japan's colonialism and war-making
in the past, while 42 percent in South Korea demand Japan's apology and
compensation for past deeds.
There is a bright side to the poll. Forty-three percent in China and 30 percent
in South Korea say they are interested in Japan's mass culture like movies,
music, animation and fashion either "very much" or ''to some extent." It is
encouraging that 63 percent of Chinese pollees in their 20s and 52 percent of
corresponding pollees in South Korea have interest in Japan's mass culture.
The poll results show that "soft power" as embodied in artistic activities,
entertainment and education can have a beneficial effect on overall relations
between countries. But at the same time the poll indicates that, unless soft
power is accompanied by efforts to solve the historical perception issue,
enduring friendly relations between Japan and its neighboring countries will be
hard to come by.
The Japan Times: Aug. 11, 2005
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