Topic Definitions



	JPOLL - the Japanese Public Opinion Database


	Topic Definitions
	TOPIC
	Abortion	All questions pertaining to the ethical and policy issues concerning abortion
	Africa	All questions concerning Japan's relations with or the general conditions of countries on the African continent.
	Alcohol	Questions concerning consumption and abuse of alcoholic beverages, policies dealing with the sale and use of alcoholic beverages, and issues involving drinking and driving
	Animals	Questions involving animal rights, protection of endangered species, and pet ownership
	Asia	These questions involve issues and events related to Asia, in general, as a geographic, cultural, economic and political region. You will find some questions regarding Japanese bi-lateral relations with other Asian countries in this category as well [Note: look for questions about bilateral relations between Japan and China under the topic China.]
	Business	This subject area includes questions about business as a group or institution (including how it relates to labor and government). This also includes questions about businessmen, and business's responsibility to society and its employees. This topic does not include general questions about the health of the economy; for those question, see Economics.
	Canada	All questions involving Canada.
	China	Security, economic, and cultural questions surrounding Japan's relations with its collosal neighbor are found in this topic area. There are many questions in here relating to the perception of China as a threat to Japan, and there are also many questions that re-examine the history between these two countries, particularly related to the second world war.
	Communism	These questions assess communist ideology in general. Currently, there are no questions that fit this topic area.
	Confidence	These questions often ask, "How much do you trust ...?" The purpose of these questions is to measure the public's confidence in certain institutions such as medicine, the media, government, etc ... Also, there are questions about the degree of trust of other countries.
	Constitution	There are many interesting and ongoing constitutional debates in Japanese politics, such as the role of the Self Defense Forces and the future of the Emperor. This topic area contains questions that try to measure the public's position on these contentious issues. There are also questions regarding the future of the Constitution and whether or not it needs to be amended.
	Consumer	These questions ask about recent and future purchases; additionally, there are many questions about consumer protection laws and policies.
	Courts	All questions related to the judicial processes in Japan.
	Crime	Questions involving the perception of crime in Japanese society and what are some possible remedies. There are some topical questions related to specific criminal acts that received a lot of attention in the media.
	Culture	This topic area includes an eclectic array of questions concerning Japanese culture, broadly defined. Under this topic, you will find questions concerning Japanese language, movies, music, hobbies, and issues regarding the fine arts.
	Death	The majority of these questions concern the issue of brain death and organ transplants. There are also broad philosophical questions about the after-life, re-incarnation, etc...
	Defense	These questions concern the Self Defense Forces, the US -Japan Security agreements, and other issues involving Japan's national defense.
	Democracy	Questions getting at the government's responsiveness to its citizens and the exercise and effectiveness of democratic government in Japan
	Diplomacy	This is a large category of questions concerning Japanese foreign policy, its relations with other countries and its role in the international community.
	Disasters	This category focuses on disaster preparedness and topical issues concerning specific disasters (i..e the Great Hanshin Earthquake.
	East Europe	Prior to the end of the Cold War, this category was applied to questions regarding countries in the Soviet Bloc. Now it contains question about the geographic and political region generally called Eastern Europe.
	Economics	These questions involve national and international economies. There are a large number of questions that assess public confidence in the economy and in Japan's economic future. For questions about personal economics, see Finances.
	Education	This category includes questions probing the public on its opinion of Japan's educational systems and questions involving specific educational policies or proposals.
	Elderly	What is the image of the elderly in Japanese society? How should Japan address issues concerning its aging population? These questions go to the heart of this category.
	Elections	This category covers questions such as Who will you vote for? Did you vote in the last election? Why or why not? Who do you want to become the next Prime Minister? -- These are often labeled the horse race questions because the majority of them seek to predict election outcomes.
	Energy	These questions involve sources of energy in Japan, energy policies and energy conservation
	Environment	All questions related to environmental issues and the greening of Japanese communities are included in this category. There are many questions about visiting parks and nature preserves.
	Equality	For the most part, these questions involve the breaking down of societal hierarchies, especially as they pertain to gender relations. For most questions regarding women's issues, see Women.
	Ethics	Ethics and honesty of individuals, groups and institutions. In general, this category differs from Values in that this category asks about the ethics of others while the Values category probes into the public's value systems and beliefs.
	Europe	Primarily Western Europe -- These questions are related to issues of Europe, European unity, and Europe's relations with non-European countries, particularly Japan.
	Family	Questions about marital and family life are included here.
	Farm	This category contains questions relating to agricultural policies.
	Finances	These questions relate specifically to personal finances and the financial well-being of the household. This section does not pertain to national finances; for these, see Economics.
	Foreign	Probes the Japanese public's general attitudes about foreigners and foreign countries.
	Future	This categories contains questions measuring the public's predictions and optimism about the future or future events (excluding elections).
	GNS	GNS stands for the "Gross National Spirit". These question are broad (and often vague) questions probing public attitudes toward Japanese politics and society in a general way.
	Government	This is a large category which encompasses questions about governmental policies, scandals, or proposals. Most of these questions will be cross-listed in categories more specific to the issue at hand.
	Groups	These questions measure satisfaction or trust in broad groups such as doctors, reporters, immigrants, politicians, etc ...
	Headgov	This is the job satisfaction ratings of the current prime minister and cabinet and their policies, and it explores reasons for satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
	Health	This is a large and varied assortment of questions from everything involving personal health to national health policies. There are many questions about specific diseases and afflictions (e.g. stress, e-coli, food poisoning, etc.). There are also questions about specific policy proposals.
	Housing	These questions concern the cost, quantity, and quality of housing in Japan, as well as questions about relocating.
	Ideology	Place yourself on the conservative - progressive ideological continuum. This is a small category since more commonly people are asked to name the party they favor [see Partisanship].
	Immigration	These questions involve Japanese immigration policies as well as public attitudes toward immigrants or any foreigners residing in Japan.
	Information	These questions are intended to measure public interest and awareness of political, social, historical and economic issues. Often, these questions are testing the public's level of knowledge on a specific issue, or its interest in an issue area.
	Israel	All questions relating to the state of Israel. Currently, there are no questions that fit this topic area. [See Mideast].
	Labor	Questions concerning unionization, labor laws, and working conditions. There are also questions concerning foreign workers. For a broader topic area, see Work.
	Latin	This category contains questions that relate to issues or events involving Latin America.
	Leaders	Look here for general questions about who is admired by the public and what the public thinks of certain political leaders and celebrities.
	Legislature	All questions pertaining to the activity of the Diet (the Japanese legislature) are under this category, including assessment of the Diet and its makeup.
	List	This is a broad catchall category for questions that involve many issue areas. We call it "List" because questions are all followed by a long, usually eclectic, list of responses. Almost all of these questions will be cross-listed elsewhere. A couple of examples of the sort of questions herein are, "What issues do you most want the government to address?" and "Everybody has his or her wishes. What is your wish for the next five years?"
	Local	These questions concern government below the level of the national government (such as prefectural, and town government).
	Medicine	Issues covered in this topic area include the medical profession, hospitals, pharmacies, and regulation of pharmaceuticals. For questions concerning illegal drugs, see Narcotics.
	Men	All issues involving men's roles in society and expectations of men. There are gender equality issue questions here as well. For more gender issue questions, see Women.
	Mideast	This category includes all questions pertaining to countries of the Middle East and Japan's policies toward that region.
	Minorities	As Japan is largely an ethnically homogeneous population, this is a small category. [There is only only question under this topic now].
	Mobility	In general, these are question regarding where you have lived, where you would like to live, and moving from one residence to another. This does not refer to social mobility. [See Social].
	Mood	This is a general and necessarily vague category to capture questions measuring social alienation, happiness, hopes and fears. Consequently, there is a large number of questions under this category, and it is not very useful for narrow searches. Below are some examples of the types of questions you will find under this category. "Are you satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or dissatisfied with your current lifestyle?" "Which of the following phrases do you think best describes the current social conditions in Japan in a positive sense? Choose as many as apply." "Do you think Japan is headed in a good or bad direction?"
	Narcotics	These questions measure attitudes about the use of illegal drugs and laws as well as policies addressing illegal substance abuse.
	Nuclear	These question all involve nuclear weapons or nuclear power in some way. There are questions involving the arms race, the testing of nuclear weapons, and non-proliferation, disarmament policies and proposals.
	Nutrition	Questions about personal diet and what is good nutrition are found here.
	Participation	This topic covers participation in a wide variety of areas such as politics, civic movements, clubs and community groups, and charity organizations. All issues of volunteerism and organizing for civic action are found here.
Parties	This category contains questions about attitudes toward the political parties. There is extensive overlap between this category and Partisanship, but this is the broader of the two, containing twice as many questions as the latter topic. In fact, nearly one in ten questions in this database fall under this category.
Partisanship	These question are primarily those where respondents list the parties they identify with. The typical question in this category is "Which political party do you normally support?" The Roper Center has party identification questions going back to 1946, but only the most recent are on this database. Contact the Center for more information (rcweb@ropercenter.uconn.edu).
Patriotism	These questions measure pride in Japan, or from a more synical point of view, the level of Japanese nationalism.
Polling	This topic explores what the public thinks of public opinion polling?
Pornography	Measures attitudes about the distribution of pornography. This is an extremely small category.
Power	This is an assessment of Japan's relative power in the international community.
Press	This mostly deals with the printed press; the questions address perception of the press as an institution as well as the price and circulation of popular newspapers.
Problems	The public is asked to assess the greatest problems facing the planet, country, or town. An example of a typical question in this category is, "Which of the following kinds of global issues are you most concerned about?"
Recreation	This topic probes vacation, sports, and leisure issues. Use this category to discover How do Japanese spend their leisure time? Where and how often to they travel? and What would they like to be doing?
Reform	These questions have both broad and specific references to governmental reform, particularly concerning the Administrative Reform Council and its report.
Regulation	Questions of de-regulation of business and banking is a common topic here. Also included are questions which probe the public's propensity to support a more laissez-affair approach to the economy.
Religion	Generally, these questions point at the important of religion in the respondents' lives. Overall, this category can be used to assess the religiosity of Japanese society.
Retirement	This category is a wide variety of questions related to retirement. Overall, this area will touch more on factual issues about retirement plans than about attitudes toward retirement (although there is some of both).
Rights	Attitudes about issues involving civil rights and human rights are found in this category. Mostly these issues are domestic in nature (rights for Japanese citizens), but some are international centering around the support of human rights abroad.
Royalty	Although its role is largely ceremonial, Japan still has a royal family, and that brings to light many constitutional issues such as the separation between church and state and the primacy of parliament. This category covers all issues involving royalty in Japan.
Russia	Given a history of tension between Japan and Russia over China and the northern islands, there is a large number of questions assessing public attitudes about Russia. In addition to general questions about Japanese-Russian relations, these questions include issues such as financial aid for Russia, the fate of the northern territories, and the impact of the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Science	All questions concerning computers and cutting-edge technology are under this topic. In addition, you'll find issues such as cloning, HDTV, space travel, and the general impact of technology covered here.
Sex	This topic is about sexuality and issues surrounding sexual relations rather than about gender issues. Questions about homosexuality, sexual mores, and sexually transmitted diseases are under this topic.
Social	This covers questions about how one should behave in Japanese society. Additionally, respondents are asked about their social networks and relationships. There is a handful of questions that get at the question of social mobility as well.
SocSecurity	Although social security is the American nomenclature, the Japanese do have a national pension program. All issues surrounding that program are covered under this topic. For a related topic, see Retirement or Elderly.
Space	Currently, there are no questions that fit this topic area
Spending	This is concerning governmental spending. These questions do not pertain to personal or household spending. For questions relating to personal finance, see Finance.
Sports	This category measure the public's interest in sports, particularly in the Olympics.
States	Japan can be broken down into prefectures which are similar to the states in the United States, although prefectures have considerable less autonomy. Nevertheless, this topic deals with issues involving the prefectures and the governing thereof.
Taste	This category measures the public's taste in music, books, television, etc...
Taxing	These questions all touch upon taxes and tax policy. There are many questions about what is a reasonable tax increase, especially pertaining to the consumption tax.
Television	Any question involving TV is found here.
Trade	To assess the public's attitude and opposition to protectionist measures, as well as its assessment of trade policy in general, look here.
Transportation	There are many questions about automobile use and driving and passenger safety here. Also, this category includes attitudes about mass transit and various forms of travel and commuting.
UNO	Attitudes about the United Nations, including the level of support for the UN, are all in this category.
Urban	Problems related to city life such as traffic, congestion, and environmental problems are addressed by these questions. Additionally, there are questions involving urban policies here.
USA	U.S - Japanese relations are explored in these questions. Japanese attitudes toward the US generally, and related to specific issues are addressed by these questions.
Values	Questions of morality, what is right and what is wrong, is at the heart of this category. Some of the issues addressed include marital fidelity, how to get ahead in the workplace, and acquisition of material wealth. There are also more general questions probing Japanese value systems. Here is a sample of what is found herein: How strongly do you agree or disagree with the view that it is necessary to make self-sacrifices as a member of society... strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree? Do you feel very uncomfortable, somewhat uncomfortable, not very uncomfortable, or not uncomfortable at all about married couples who live separately from each other? Taking the current social conditions into account, what kind of person do you want your child to become? Choose one from the list.
Veterans	Currently, there are no questions that fit this topic area
War	These questions largely deal with the threat of war in the future, the US-Japan Security Agreement, or issues dating back to World War II. There are some questions here that also address issues surrounding the Japanese Self Defense Forces.
Welfare	These questions address what should be done to aid the less fortunate in Japanese society.
Women	All gender issues, including issues of gender equality, are found under this topic. [See also, Men].
Work	This is a much broader category than Labor. These questions are concerning life inside the workplace as well as relations with management and government policies.
Youth	These are questions related to the youth of Japan. There are a number of questions concerning violence among Japanese youth and the perceived decline in good behavior. Also, questions addressing stress that youth experience in the educational system are featured here.

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