Japanese Public Understanding Of China Gap

When the former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was in power, favorable attitudes across the Sino-Japanese border encountered significant deterioration, even more so, it caused mutual distrust to increase. This process of intensification of ill-will has negatively affected the gap in mutual understanding between the Chinese and Japanese people.This article mainly covers the discrepancies and the responses between Japanese and Chinese perspectives to the large Chinese protests in 2005 throughout China.According to several opinion polls taken, a majority of Japanese people have not been to China, nor know any Chinese on a personal level, and their understanding of China and Sino-Japanese relations are reliant on Japanese domestic media outlets. This paper thus takes the position that the primary cause of discrepancies in the Japanese perspective and the Chinese perspective stems from the Japanese media.Many Sino-Japanese scholars have acknowledged the disparities between China and Japan, as well, many scholars have pointed out that the Japanese populace lacks a comprehensive understanding of the 2005 events. However, whether or not the media has played any role specifically in the Japanese perspective of the protests, has not been widely addressed or researched. This article attempts to answer these questions.The disparity between the knowledge of the events that the Japanese have can be separated into two aspects: the first is that the main reason for the protests escalation was for Chinese domestic issues (nationalistic education and the increasing disparity between the rich and poor in China) and the Chinese government's response to the protests (in that the government didn't prevent rioting or destructive natures, nor was an apology given); the second is that these anti-Japanese protests were for destruction purposes.The stereotype caused the first aspect, and the news value and the powerful effect of the media caused the second aspect. Moreover, the Japanese populace's factor also cannot be neglected. Since first hand exchanges between the two countries are relatively few, few Japanese actually care about related information from China. According to the poll, considering the 2005 anti-Japanese protests in China, the majority of Japanese nationals understand the understanding of these incidents comes from the media. Therefore the Japanese media easily influenced the Japanese populace in their understanding of the protests.In order to reduce the understanding disparity, to promote mutual understanding, we must on our own initiative realize the media limitations. The media report's news cannot be completely objective, also they cannot be relied on to provide a complete picture, but is the subjective involvement, takes on certain sides. We must strengthen first hand exchanges, and to break through the stereotypes, and change people's perspectives.