Media Contact:
Samantha Skinner Monroe
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(Chicago, IL) – Hillary Clinton’s forthcoming visit to Asia, her first trip abroad as U.S. secretary of state, signals the rising importance of the region to the United States over the past decade.  The choice of Japan as the first stop on the trip shows that despite the rapid rise of China, Japan is still a valued and trusted ally. Multiple surveys conducted by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs over the last few years show high and sustained levels of mutual trust and respect between publics in both countries.

A July 2008 public opinion conducted by The Chicago Council focused on a wide variety of issues pertaining to the U.S. relationship with Japan. Among the key findings:

• On a 0-10 scale of overall influence in the world (with 0 meaning not at all influential and 10 meaning extremely influential), Japan receives an average of 7.5 (up from 6.4 in 2006). While Americans think China's influence has increased even more (from 6.4 in 2006 to 7.9 in 2008), they still believe Japan's has increased in an absolute sense.
• Forty-five percent of Americans say that Japan is “very important” to the United States, placing it fourth internationally (see Figure 1) behind the “special relationship” with Britain (60%), Canada (53%), and China (52%).
• When asked whether Japan or China is more important to the United States in terms of “vital interests,” a majority of Americans say China is more important (51%), while 44 percent say Japan is more important.

The fact that Americans believe China is more important than Japan when the two countries are placed in direct comparison suggests that Americans recognize the increased importance of China in terms of U.S. interests. However, Japan’s fourth place ranking in terms of importance to the United States is still ahead of other close allies like Israel (40%) and Germany (29%) and is also ahead of nations with significant impact in world affairs such as Russia (34%) and Saudi Arabia (44%).  Further, on a barometer of how Americans feel towards other nations (with 0 meaning a very cold, unfavorable feeling, 100 meaning a very warm, favorable feeling, and 50 being neutral), Japan ranks well ahead of China, with a mean rating of 59 compared to China’s 41. Additionally, 67 percent of Americans view China as an unfair trade partner compared with the 57 percent who say Japan practices fair trade.

According to the Soft Power survey conducted by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the East Asia Institute in South Korea, surveyed Americans have high regard for Japan's Soft Power in East Asia.

• On economic soft power indicators, Americans rate Japan very highly on a 0 to 10 scale. Americans believe the Japanese economy is very influential (7.3), that Japan has an internationally competitive economy (8.1), and that economic relations with Japan are very important for America (7.2).
• Americans also give Japanese culture much higher average ratings on a 0 to 10 scale than the other Asian countries. There is a perception that Japan possesses a rich cultural heritage (8.4), is an attractive tourist destination (7.8), and has high quality universities (7.2).
• Japan clearly possesses the closest relationship to the United States in terms of its political system and use of diplomacy. On the 0 to 10 scale, most Americans believe Japan has a good degree of respect for human rights (6.5) and has a political system that serves the needs of its people (6.9), a clear differentiation from views of China on these items.
• Japanese are equally positive about American influence and power in the region. The United States comes in first among Japanese in every category of soft power measured by the soft power survey.

But while Americans view Japan as influential and important, they also want to see Tokyo do more to contribute to international security. Overall, 57 percent of Americans are prepared to see Japan change Article Nine of its Constitution to allow Japanese forces to engage in military activities such as international peacekeeping or combat missions, and independent combat missions. That is higher than support for Constitutional change among the Japanese public, and the American expectation that Japan can do more in combat operations far surpasses the Japanese public’s views. The topic of Japan's military involvement could become an issue that needs to be resolved between the two allies but given the low importance Americans attach to the Japanese military in terms of its overall influence, it is unlikely that any disagreements would lead to a weakening of the relationship.

Conclusions are based on two Chicago Council public opinion surveys conducted in early to mid 2008. For more information and to download the full reports, please visit www.thechicagocouncil.org/softpowerindex.

EXPERTS ARE AVAILABLE FOR COMMENT. PLEASE CONTACT SAMANTHA SKINNER MONROE AT 312-821-7507 OR sskinner@thechicagocouncil.org.  

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, founded in 1922, is a prominent, independent and nonpartisan organization committed to influencing the discourse on global issues through contributions to opinion and policy formation, leadership dialogue, and public learning.  The Chicago Council has been conducting nationwide public opinion surveys on American views on foreign policy since 1972.  These surveys provide insights into the current and long-term foreign policy attitudes of the American public on a wide range of global topics.