Economic Issues and Anti-Americanism in Japan

Abstract

Anti-American sentiment—a mixture of hatred and fascination— likely exists in almost all countries. Given public diplomacy’s mission to “inform, engage, and influence global audiences … to reach out beyond foreign governments to promote better appreciation of the United States abroad, greater receptivity to U.S. policies among foreign publics and sustained access and influence in important sectors of foreign societies,”¹ dealing with popular anti-Americanism in target countries is crucial for U.S. public diplomacy. Japan is one of the United States’ closest allies, and, the Japanese public’s sense of affinity with the United States has remained at a high level compared with other countries. It has been between 70 and 80 percent for almost all the time since the 1980s (even in the worst year, which was 1986, it remained at 67.5 percent), while the sense of affinity to European countries in the 1990s fluctuated between 40 and 60 percent. However, anti-American sentiment in Japan still influences its relationship with the United States considerably.²