日本人の愛国心についてレポート２０００

Japanese Nationalism Report 2000

Concept By: Keith Smith Jr.

The Survey

Methods of Data Collection

Interesting Statistics

Study Shortcomings

Interesting Findings

• The popular sentiment of Japan seems to be mostly good, with the a good number of respondents (57.9%) citing public order, safety, and so forth as the things that makes Japan a good country.
• 31.6% of the surveys that called Japan a good country also said it was bad in ways as well, and 21.1% of the surveys had just purely bad commentary on Japan. One respondent replied that Japan is somewhere in the middle.

• Fairly all of the surveys (78.9%) had to do with person to person relations, which I find intriguing. These results seemed to match Reishchauer and Jansen's findings that Japanese value harmony (136). Since 78.9% of the respondents thought to mention that their most important value is in person to person relations, it clearly shows that it makes up a large part of what it means to live in Japanese society.
• The positive responses that had to do with interpersonal relations (73.7%) had such answers as the kindness of the Japanese, observance of rules, politeness, manners, humility, respect for the aged, keep out of others' business, work ethic, civility, and consideration of others. These answers lead one to believe in the great faith that the Japanese have in themselves.

• One fabulous response was by a respondent who replied that because many famous people in Japan are being arrested, more proper role models for Japan are needed. This is a great answer, which works for the advancement of Japanese society, and reveals a caring populace for the welfare of the people.

• Some truly interesting answers that I received were things like: Japanese are familiar with each other so conversation is easily made, everyone is Japanese so it is easy to understand what everyone is thinking, and together we can work together and accomplish things piece by piece. If there was ever a doubt about the group nature of Japanese society, I believe that this data will promptly dispel it.

• A respondent answered that Japan's strictly hierarchical structure was a bad point. From the majority of these responses, I would like to point out that they would work for the retention of nationalism, especially that of the negative kind. If you felt that you couldn't speak out, had to blend, and follow orders, it would not too much to help you fight the tide and bring about a change in the status quo.

• There were respondents (52.6%) who were apathetic about the symbols and didn't particularly mind. There was also a faction (26.3%) who clearly did not like the melody of the Kimigayo.
• One response detailed an opinion in which the Kimigayo and Hinomaru should be national symbols, just not enshrined in law. This is interesting because it reveals that perhaps the current national symbols of Japan aren't what make the Japanese feel nationalistically about themselves.

• An interesting response that pressed for the keeping of the status quo revealed that by doing this, the Japanese will not forget the war. It is probably better and more mentally healthy to have a symbol created by yourself to remind you of past misdeeds than of someone else's making.