Where is Japan Divided?

from Smart News and Media Values National Survey

• Where is Japan Divided? Where Japan is Divided: An Examination from the Smart News National Survey of Media Values
• Amazon

Where is Japan Divided? Regarding the division in Japan, the book analyzes that conservatism and liberalism are not monolithic as in the United States, but rather pluralistic in nature.

• Pluralistic fracture axis:
  • Five axes of division are considered, including ideology, political engagement, moral values, leadership style, and divergent future expectations for the performance of political institutions.
  • Although there is no trichotomous association in moral values as in the United States, there are multiple conflicts.
• Voter perception:
  • The ideological conflict between conservatives and liberals is not as widespread in voter perceptions.
  • The most prevalent social conflict in voters' perceptions is labor-management conflict, followed by gender-based conflict.
    • This place is interesting.
    • p.127

    • The SMPP survey also attempted to measure perceptions of social conflict. Eight categories of possible conflicts in Japanese society were listed and respondents were asked to indicate the degree of conflict in each category (p. 30). Specifically, the categories were: generational conflict, urban-rural conflict, male-female conflict, manager-labor (worker) conflict, rich-poor conflict, political conservative-liberal conflict, occupational conflict, and people born in Japan versus those who immigrated from abroad (in order of question).

    • p.129
    • 
• Distance between politics and citizens:
  • There is widespread "one's orientation toward one's private life" that creates a wall of separation between politics and
  • Many segments of the population are not interested in politics and tend to avoid political participation.
• Media and Information Environment:
  • Trust in traditional mass media is relatively high, but trust in news on the Internet tends to be low.
  • There are differences in the information environment by generation, and media contact patterns lead to differences in the information environment among citizens.
  • Citizens shape their own information environment through a combination of complex media, and several distinctive contact patterns exist.
• Policy Conflicts:
  • On issues related to security and the Constitution, we see a conservative-liberal divide.
  • However, unlike the U.S., there is no division on the economic issues.
  • The country is similar to the U.S. on same-sex marriage, immigration, and environmental issues, but is less divided.
• Moral values:
  • The moral values of individual orientation and solidarity orientation serve as the axis of division in society and influence the formation of policy opinions.
  • Those with a high individual orientation tend to favor same-sex marriage and immigration, while those with a high solidarity orientation tend to oppose it.
• Leadership Style:
  • Political leadership styles foster or lead partisan conflict, increasing hostility through division.
  • In Japan, there is a clear divide between friend and foe only against the Abe administration and its surrounding prime ministerial experience.
• Governance insecurity:
  • Anxiety about the future of society and politics influences the nature of political participation.
  • The stronger the synergy between governance insecurity and conflict intensity perception, the more likely citizens are to be led to the polls.

Overall, the divisions in Japan are wide-ranging and complex, involving not only ideological conflicts but also a variety of other factors, including generational, labor-management, gender, political involvement, values, and media contact. In addition, the lack of interest in politics and private life orientation further complicate the appearance of fragmentation.

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