A study on changes in Japanese views of China : As seen through letters to the newspaper editors and questionnaires circulated since the 'Tiananmen Incident'

The purpose of this paper is to examine Japanese people's current views of China after the Chinese Government's violent suppression of the democratic movement, so-called 'Tiananmen Incident', on June 4, 1989. The authors used thr following materials. (I) Letters about the Tiananmen Incident to the reader's columns of three major Japanese newspapers and one local paper in Hiroshima;the total is 103. (II) Questionnaires about China after the Tiananmen Incident; the contents (1) the future of the democratic movement (2) the possibilty of realization for modernization by the Chinese Government (3) the future of Sino-Japanese relations. The authors conducted a survey on 261 citizens in Hiroshima and 127 students of Hiroshima University, from the end of September to the end of Novenber, 1989. The findings are as fol1ows:many of Japanese people think (1) the democratic movement will take place again (2) modernization by the Chinese Government won't be able to achieve (3) it is necessary to develop Sino-Japanese relations. In fact, it means that Japanese people is in confusion about current China. Conseqently, the Japanese have a tendency to turn thier eyes away from current China. It can be said that the Tiananmen Incident caused a major change in Japanese views of China. Current confusion about China is, in some ways, quite similar to the views of China which prevailed in Japan before World War II. A feeling that Japan is 'aloof from Asia' is once again gaining strength