A record 95.3 percent of Japanese residents said they had “no friendly feelings” toward Russia. They expressed this opinion during the government’s annual public opinion poll conducted in September-October, the results of which were published today by the Cabinet Office. This is the highest level of hostility towards the USSR, and then the Russian Federation, since 1975, when such research began. Dislike for Russia has been setting records since 2022.
During the current survey, only 4.1 percent of study participants expressed “friendly feelings” towards the Russian Federation. The reason is obvious – this is Ukraine. For the past two years, the Japanese media have been incredibly widely covering the military operations taking place there; talk shows on these topics lasted for hours and, as you understand, the tone of the statements was not distinguished by sympathy for Moscow. The mood of the local public was probably also influenced by the numerous packages of economic sanctions against Russia that Tokyo is adopting and the harsh statements of local politicians against the Russian Federation. Now, however, the topic of Ukraine has largely receded into the background – it has been supplanted by Israel, the Gaza Strip and other Houthis.
A record for the level of hostility was also set in the sentiments of the Japanese public towards China – 86.7 percent of respondents stated that they had no “friendly feelings” towards it. 12.7 percent of study participants reported liking the PRC. The result, in general, is clear – relations between Beijing and Tokyo are constantly being shaken in many directions. This includes tension in Taiwan, where it smacks of military action between the PRC and the United States with the very possible involvement of Japan itself. This is also a conflict with Beijing over the uninhabited Senkaku Islands, where Chinese guards are constantly and demonstratively on duty. Finally, this is a massive campaign by the PRC in connection with the release of water from the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant, supplemented by a ban on the import of their seafood to China, which is quite painful for the Japanese. So there are many reasons for hostility.
But in relations with the third Japanese neighbor, South Korea, the situation is improving – almost 53 percent of respondents expressed friendly feelings towards it (their figure was less than 46 percent in the previous study). This is reflected in the policy of Seoul, which under current President Yun Seok-yeol consistently advocates strengthening contacts with the United States and Japan, is dissociating itself from the line of its predecessor, who preferred to put pressure on Tokyo on sensitive issues related to Japanese colonial rule in Korea in the first half of the last century. The Japanese mass passion for South Korean pop music and TV series also plays a role.
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