Japan: Have Nuclear Arrows Moved?

Cover Page

Cite item

Full Text

Open Access Open Access
Restricted Access Access granted
Restricted Access Subscription Access

Abstract

Lately, when restarting nuclear weapons debate, Japan has to strike a delicate balance since, as the only country to have experienced the horrors of a nuclear attack, it remains committed to leading discussions on bringing about a world without nuclear weapons and continues to face calls from survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings to do more to achieve that.Although there are several factors that can critically affect the anti-nuclear stance of Japanese public, this paper, based on results of opinion polls 2018–2022 and researches about nuclear issues debates, focuses on Japanese public opinion towards deployment of nuclear weapons in the territory of Japan and analyzing one, but specific factor, which can affect the Japanese public while discussing this issue – social pressure among the Japanese in the society.Highlighting the importance of social pressure in public opinion toward different issues in both in Japanese society and the online arena, the author makes a conclusion that Japanese people are less likely to succumb to social pressure in matters they consider vital.

About the authors

Larisa V. Zhilina

F.M.Dostoevsky Omsk State University

Russian Federation, Omsk

References

  1. Spinazze G. 2023. Press release: Doomsday Clock set at 90 seconds to midnight. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. https://thebulletin.org/2023/01/press-release-doomsday-clock-set-at-90-seconds-to-midnight/ (accessed 23.01.2023)
  2. Johnson F.A. 1993. Dependency and Japanese socialization: Psychoanalytic and Anthropological Investigations into Amae. New York: New York University Press.
  3. Mearsheimer J. 1990. Back to the future: Instability of Europe after the cold war. International Security, 15(1), 5–56.
  4. Katzenstein P. 1996. Cultural Norms and National Security: Police and Military in Postwar Japan. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
  5. Kawai K. 2022. Mission Unaccounted: Japan’s Shift of Role in US Extended Nuclear Deterrence. Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament, 5(3): 1–30, doi: 10.1080/25751654.2022.2110636
  6. Жилина Л.В. Молодые японцы: лицом к миру. Ежегодник Япония. 2022; 51:40–60. С. 52. https://doi.org/10.55105/2687-1440-2022-51-40-60
  7. Cai Y. 2008. The Rise and Decline of Japanese Pacifism. New Voices in Japanese Studies, 2: 179–200. doi: 10.21159/nv.02.09. Р. 182
  8. Hook G. 1984. The nuclearization of language: Nuclear allergy as political metaphor. Journal of Peace Research, 21(3), 259–275.
  9. Kase Y. 2001. The cost and benefits of Japan’s nuclearization: An insight into the 1968/70 internal report. Nonproliferation Review, 8(2), 55–68.
  10. Mochizuki M. 2007. Japan tests the nuclear taboo. Nonproliferation Review, 14(2), 303–328.
  11. Asch S.E. 1951. Effects of group pressure upon modification and distortion of judgment, In H. Guetzknow (ed.). Groups, Leadership, and Men. Pittsburg: Carnegie Press. 177–190.
  12. Noelle-Neumann E. 1974. The spiral of silence: A theory of public opinion. Journal of Communication, 24(2), 43–51.
  13. Yoneyama T., Kawahigashi T., & Sweet C. 1986. The importance of the peer group in Japanese society. Review of Japanese Culture and Society, 1(1), 46–50.
  14. Baron J., Gibbons R.D. & Herzog S. 2020. Japanese Public Opinion, Political Persuasion, and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament, 3:2, 299–309, doi: 10.1080/257516 54.2020.1834961
  15. Stoddard S.A., Bauermeister J.A., Gordon-Messer C., Johns M., & Zimmerman M.A. 2012. Permissive norms and young adults’ alcohol and marijuana use: The role of online communities, Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 73(6), 968–975.
  16. Yun G.W., & Park, S.Y. 2011. Selective posting: Willingness to post a message online. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 16(2), 201–227.
  17. Matthes J., Hayes A., Rojas H., Shen F., Min S.J., & Dylko I.B. 2012. Exemplifying a dispositional approach to cross-cultural spiral of silence research: Fear of social isolation and the inclination to self-censor. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 24(3), 287–305.
  18. Everett C.L., Karlyn H.B. 1996. Public Opinion in America and Japan: How We See Each Other and Ourselves. Washington, D.C., AEI Press. Р. 138.

Copyright (c) 2023 Russian Academy of Sciences

This website uses cookies

You consent to our cookies if you continue to use our website.

About Cookies