| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,700,000)
Fiscal Year 1987: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000)
Fiscal Year 1986: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
Fiscal Year 1985: ¥1,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000)
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| Research Abstract |
The Soviet perception of Japan has been undergone a gradual change starting from latter half of the Brezhnev era. The Soviets regarded for long Japan as an economic giant but military dwarf. In sum,the Russians viewed,with some contempt,Japan as a tiny,resource-poor,non-nuclear,hence militarily-weak nation. Particulary since the Gorbachev's arrival to power the Soviet image of Japan has been drastically changing. The Soviets now stress the need to learn from Japan particularly in the fields of economic development, management and technological innovation. In a marked contrast, however,the Japanese image of the Soviet Union has remained more or less the same in the past 20-30 years. Most Japanese consider the USSR one dimensional, i.e., strong and powerful only in the military field, and even an expansionist power. In the public opinion survey conducted in Japan, the USSR has been constantly seen by the Japanese as the most disliked country in the world.
Previously, the Soviet government was trying hard to hide from the Soviet general public the existence of such contrasting perceptions of these two countries on each other. Drastically changing such a policy, however, the gorbachev leadership has started to show its readiness and even eagerness to reveal such a discrepancy as it is to the soviet bureaucrats and general public. What is behind such a change in policy? It is a too simplistic expansion to ascribe the reason of such a shift to a policy of glasnost (openess). It isa question to be more carefully examined perhaps in another study project.
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