Opinion Poll: Spanish Image of Japan (Outline of Results)

August 1, 2012
Japanese

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan commissioned the Royal Elcano Foundation to conduct an opinion poll on the image of Japan in Spain from March 5 to March 16, 2012. 1,000 persons over the age of 18 were targeted for the opinion poll, which was conducted by telephone (the sampling error is plus or minus 4% at a 95.5% confidence interval). The outline of the results of the opinion poll is as follows:

General views
When asked how much interest they had in Japan, 68% reported "very interested", "interested", or "rather interested". "Culture and art" and "science/technology" were the top fields of interest.

Regarding the impression of Japan, 75% responded "very good" or "good" while "diligent" and "polite" occupied the top of the image of Japan. Moreover, regarding the image of Japanese people, "creative", "have leadership", and "diligent/honest" were the top responses.

With regard to interest in Japan, 68% replied "very interested", "interested", or "rather interested", while approximately 35% responded that they "want to learn Japanese language".
Other points
44% of the respondents replied that image of Japan became "better" as a result of Japan’s efforts for reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake. The reasons of improved images included "endurance and politeness of the affected people", "overall solidarity of the Japanese society", and "rapid reconstruction".

A frequency of seeing or hearing news or information about Japan in 2011 was relatively high, as 15% replied "every day", 29% responded "almost every day", and 19% answered "several times a week".

As for their recognition of Japanese corporate brands, Toyota, Sony, Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi were at the top, indicating that recognition of companies related to automobiles and electric appliances are relatively high.

Regarding Japanese products, many appreciated technology, which was followed by quality and originality of the products, and 95% of respondents who had ever purchased Japanese products replied that they were "very satisfied" or "satisfied".

Impressions related to Japanese culture were generally good, as 85% replied their impressions were "very good" or "good". Regarding their field of interest in Japanese culture, 52% responded "Bonsai", which was followed by "Art" (34%), and "Food" (31%).

Only 3% of the respondents replied that they had ever visited Japan. The reasons the others have not were the high commodity prices in Japan, its geographical distance from Spain, and other reasons. Nonetheless Japan was placed second as a country they wanted to go for sightseeing (25%), after the United States (50%).

With regard to important areas for Spanish diplomacy, 80% replied "Europe", which was followed by the "United States" (57%), "Central and South America" (25%), Asia (13%), and Africa (11%). With regard to an important Asian countries as partners for Spain, Japan was second with 24% after China (56%).

(*The foregoing is a provisional translation. The date indicated above denotes the date of issue of the original press release in Japanese.)

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