The Surveys on the Japanese National Character : Key Points from Our Results

Key Points from Our Results

The following is an excerpt from the press release for the results of the 12th installment.

1 Assessment of the Japanese Economy: A Continuing Downward Trend:   The most conspicuous change of the past 20 years in the attitudes of Japanese people must be the rapid spread of what might be called "the pessimistic view of society" that took place from 1993 to 1998, and such phenomenon may be said to constitute the "loss of confidence" among the Japanese.
  For example, the proportion of respondents who have said that the strength of the Japanese economy (#9.12c) was "very high" or "fairly high" has decreased markedly from 79% in 1993 to 32% in 1998, and that proportion has dropped steeply from 74% in 1993 to 53% in 1998 with respect to the "standard of living" (#9.12d). In the most recent 12th installment of our survey, the respective proportions were 37% for the economic strength and 49% for the standard of living, thus showing some signs that people may be regaining confidence about the strength of the national economy. But overall, it cannot be said that the public opinion has shown enough upward trend to fully overcome the gloom of the last 10 to 15 years and climbed back to the level of confidence and optimism of the years past.
  21% of the respondents have said their own standard of living in the past 10 years has either "gotten better" or "gotten slightly better" (#7.30a), and that number is about the same as the 20% reported in the previous 11th installment conducted in 2003. Likewise, the proportion of respondents who are "satisfied" or "rather satisfied" is 30% (#2.3d), meaning it has remained at the same level since 2003 (Chart 1).; In this state of society, people are finding it difficult to maintain an optimistic outlook toward the future (Chart 2). For the past 10 years the proportion of people who believe that "people's peace of mind will diminish" (#7.18b) has hovered around 70%; and those who believe that "people's freedom will diminish" (#7.18c) have increased by 5 percentage points and now comprise 40% of the respondents. The proportion of people who believe that "people will become more affluent in the future" (#7.18d) has declined to an all-time low of 11% from the 14% observed in 2003, and in contrast those saying that people will become worse off have increased their share to the all-time high of 57%, from 47% in 2003.; We see that throughout the survey years around 1/4th of respondents have expressed a pessimistic outlook toward the future as the view that "people will be unhappy"; more than half the respondents still say that "people's health will get worse" though the proportion taking this stance has decreased for the past decade.

2 Increase in the Number of Youth Who Are "Frustrated":   As if reflecting this generally gridlocked state of society, the proportion of people who have experienced some sort of "nervousness" for the past month (#2.80c) has reached 48%, the highest mark in the last 15 years. In each installment of the survey this proportion of people who have experienced nervousness has been greater among the young, and in particular we find that for the first time it has moved over 60% among people in their 20s (63%) and the 30s (62%) (Chart 3).
  A more detailed look at the data reveals that while increase in this proportion has occurred across all age groups from 1993 to 1998, from 2003 to 2008 it has occurred among those who are younger than 40.
  We can also find out what factors other than age are associated with the feeling of nervousness by cross-classifying it with those selected variables (Chart 4). For instance, we see that while 33% of the respondents who are satisfied with their job or workplace have reported experiencing nervousness, the proportion more than doubles to 73% among those are who are dissatisfied. Likewise, we can see that people are more likely to express nervousness the more they are dissatisfied with their lives in general, and the more they feel anxious about their economic circumstances.
  While in this passage we have only looked at three factors, it is also known that the feelings of nervousness are associated with many sorts of anxiety and dissatisfaction in different facets of people's lives, as well as with dissatisfaction with the society in general. Also, to one extent or another such association may be observed across all age groups.

3 Movement to Reconsider Interpersonal Relationships at the Workplace: Since the 1980's people's attitudes toward the workplace have gradually shifted to preferring the kind of interpersonal relations that are basically dry and laid-back - but in the past decade, we see evidence of a budding movement to reconsider the merits of a denser, more involved sort of relationship at the workplace, especially among the young.; For instance, proportion of people who have said it is better to have social contacts with a workplace superior outside of work (#5.6*) has decreased from 72% in 1973 to 55% in 1998 when all age groups are aggregated, but that proportion has increased slightly to 58% in the 2008 installment. This proportion of people who have said it is better to have social contacts with a superior has increased markedly among those in the 20s from 50% (1998) to 65% (2008), and from 45% (1998) to 63% (2008) among those in the 30s, in fact approaching the level in 1973 (respectively 73% and 69%) (Chart 5).; The tendency to avoid a denser, more involved kind of relations at the workplace - as measured by a question asking whether a boss who "always sticks to the rules and never demands any unreasonable work but who never does anything for you personally" is preferable or not - has in general increased for the 20 years between 1983 and 2003, and in particular among the young (#5.6). In the most recent installment, however, that proportion has decreased by 3 percentage points to 15% from 18% in 2003. Among the young, we see that the proportion preferring a drier and less involved interpersonal relation at the workplace has either bottomed out in the last 10 years or so, or even decreased (Chart 6). This also means that the type of boss with the contrasting style, one who "sometimes demands extra work in spite rules against it, but who, on the other hand, looks after you personally in matters not connected with work", is regaining popularity. Influenced partly by trends among the young, we also see in the aggregate that in the past 5 years the "involved" boss' popularity is on the rise slightly again.
Further, the proportion of people who have said that they would like to work for a "firm with a family-like atmosphere which organized outings and sports days, even if the wages were a little bit less" (#5.6b) among those in the 20s have halved from 76% in 1973 to 35% in 2003, but in 2008 we see that the proportion has moved up by 10 percentage points to 45%.

4 Search for Spiritual Fulfillment and a Psychological Anchor: Paralleling the predilection toward reconsideration of the importance of interpersonal relations as described above, we also see some evidence of what might be termed a newfound search for spiritual fulfillment and for things that could serve as a psychological anchor in one's life.;   The most numerous choice for the "most important thing in life" (#2.7) is "family" with 46% of the respondents picking it, and its proportion of the total responses is also the highest ever recorded in 2008 (Chart 7). At the same time, the proportion choosing "love, spirit" has increased from 2003 to 2008 across all age groups except the 70s: from 20% to 23% for the 20s; from 13% to 17% for the 30s; from 8% to 17% for the 40s; from 11% to 13% for the 50s; and from 14% to 18% for the 60s).
  Also, the proportion of respondents who have said they wanted to "do what is of benefit to other people, whether or not it is what I want to do myself" (#2.11), has reached the highest point recorded, with 43% for the 20s and 52% for the 30s, respectively (Chart 8). As is obvious from this chart, this particular response has become markedly popular among those younger than 40 since 2003.
  Further, the proportion of people who have expressed a belief in a "life after death" (#3.5) has doubled in 50 years, from 20% in 1958 to 38% in 2008. In particular, we see that nearly half - 49% - of those in the 20s say they believe in this idea.
  It might be surmised that these results are signs that people are attempting to find new ways toward spiritual fulfillment as well as things that could serve as anchor in their lives in an increasingly mechanistic and stagnant society.

5 Propensity Toward Expressing Will Through Elections: With regard to people's political consciousness, it appears reasonable to argue that there is a newly arising trend that characterizes the last 5 years in addition to changes that have been occurring over a very long term, and over the last 20 or so years. In particular, we can observe that in the past 5 years there is a noticeable increase in the predilection to express some sort of social or political will through elections (Chart 9).;   The proportion of people indicating no particular preference with regards political party affiliation (#8.7h, #8.7i, #8.7j) was around 20% in 1953 when the survey began, but over time it has reached 60% in 2003. While it is obvious that an increase in the "independents" is the broader long-term trend that has held true for half a century, yet for the past 5 years we observe that this proportion has decreased by 5 percentage point to 55% from 2003.
  The proportion of people who believe that they should not "leave everything to them" even if there were outstanding political leaders (#8.1b) has shown a comparatively large increase from 1988 to 1993, and thereafter it has remained at that level since.
  Further, those who say that they would "not do anything" when they had some dissatisfaction with society (#8.9) fell to 28% after observing a sharp drop to 34% in 1993 from 46% in 1988. On the other hand, those who would "take it into account when you go to vote" increased their share to 55% from the previous 42%, which is the highest mark recorded for this question.
  The proportion of respondents saying that they would not "let anything stand in the way of voting" (#8.6) in a national election (House of Representatives) has increased by 5 percentage points from 5 years ago to 40%, compensating for the decline observed in the previous two installments.

6 Rebound in the Confidence in Scientific Technology and Art: Previously we have described how the Japanese public opinion towards its economic health has not transcended the tone of pessimism. But with respect to some other aspects of society, we see that people's assessment of Japan is on the rise again. The proportion of people who have said that the country's "level of science and technology" (#9.12) was "very high" halved from 46% in 1993 to 24% in 1998, but that proportion rebounded to 35% in the current 2008 installment. Also, the proportion of people who say that the "artistic achievements of Japan" (#9.12b) are "very high" doubled to 13% in 2008 from 7% in 1998, and the combined figure of 72% for those responding with either "very high" or "fairly high" to this question is the highest mark we have observed (Chart 10).; Also, although it comes from a question that has been included for the first time in the current 2008 installment such that it can't say anything about longitudinal change, we find that as many as 77% of the respondents have said that they "would like to be born again in Japan if they were to be reborn" (#9.22c), and less than 20% saying that they would prefer another country.
It appears that Japanese people's confidence is gradually on the rebound with respect to certain spheres of life other than the economy, as evidenced by, say, decline in the proportion of people who say that "people's health in future will get worse" (#7.18) in Chart 2.