1987 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
The Study of Mutual Perception of Japan and the Soviet Union
| Project/Area Number |
60450069
|
|---|
| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (B)
|
| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
|---|
| Research Field |
Politics
|
|---|
| Research Institution | Slavic Research Center,Hokkaido University |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
KIMURA Hiroshi The Slavic Research Center,Hokkaido University, スラブ研究センター, 教授 (80001767)
|
|---|
| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
UDA Fumio Department of Foreign Languages,Sophia Universtiy(Tokyo), 外国語学部, 教授 (50053666)
HASEGAWA Tsuyoshi The Slavic research Center,Hokkaido Universtiy, スラブ研究センター, 教授 (50164819)
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
1985 – 1987
|
| Keywords | Japan / Soviet Union / Soviet-Japanese Relations / 北方領土再軍備化 / 反ソ感情 / 北方領土 / 大韓航空機撃墜事件 |
|---|
| 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.
|
