In a Cabinet Office poll on foreign policy, 12.7% of people said they felt a sense of affinity toward China, and 4.1% said they felt a sense of affinity toward Russia, both of which are record lows.
The Cabinet Office conducted a mail poll of 3,000 people over the age of 18 across the country from September to October last year in order to ascertain the public's awareness of foreign affairs, and received responses from 1,649 people, or 55%.
According to the survey, 12.7% of people answered that they felt a sense of familiarity with China, a decrease of 5.1 points from the previous survey.
Since the survey method changed in 2020, it is not possible to make a simple comparison, but this is the lowest since 1978, when the question was first introduced.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said, ``There are various issues with China, and the suspension of imports of Japanese marine products is thought to have had an impact.''
In addition, 4.1% of respondents said they felt an affinity towards Russia, which was also at an all-time low as the military invasion of Ukraine continues.
On the other hand, the number of people who answered that they ``feel a sense of familiarity'' with the United States remained almost the same at 87.4%, and the number of people who answered that they ``feel a sense of affinity'' with South Korea increased by 6.9 points from the previous survey to 52.8%.