More than 95% of Japanese “do not have friendly feelings” towards Russia, survey
Date: 2024-01-22 Author: Кирило Загоруйко Categories: WORLD
The vast majority of Japanese (95.3 percent) “do not feel friendly” towards Russia. This is evidenced by the results of a survey conducted by the Japanese government. Its results are published by the Kyodo portal.
It is noted that this is a record for the second year in a row. Thus, only 4.1 percent of Japanese “feel friendly” towards the Russian Federation.
According to sociologists, the main reason for this trend was the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Economic sanctions also affected the mood of the Japanese population.
At the same time, record levels of hostility were recorded in Japanese attitudes towards China. Thus, 86.7% of respondents declared the absence of “friendly feelings” towards the Celestial Empire.
Analysts say the influence of tensions between Beijing and Tokyo, including the situation in Taiwan and the Senkaku Islands conflict, played a key role in shaping this perception.
At the same time, Russian political scientist Anatoly Nesmiyan argues that Japan has long been burdened by the status of a losing state, and this is also compounded by economic stagnation, which hit the Japanese economy back in the nineties.
“The ruling elite can reverse the trend of the country’s decline by creating a severe crisis, even a military one. Moreover, in the region there are only three obvious opponents who could become the target of such a crisis - China, North Korea (read the same China) and Russia,” the expert believes .
According to him, the Japanese are indifferent to the Kuril Islands, because they do not represent any value for the vast majority of Japanese residents, “but the fact that Russia is becoming hostile to Japanese society and this is not discussed is a fact.”
“A weakening and degrading Russia, rapidly losing its military potential, becomes quite interesting from the point of view of carrying out that very short and victorious one against it. And when the decision on this is made, the problem of the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin or something else is already a technical question. Six months - and the entire population of Japan will passionately desire their return to their native harbor,” Nesmiyan noted.
