Yahoo News: 政府の世論調査: 外国人客増、5割強が「不安」GOJ survey: More than 50% fear NJ tourist influx

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Morning blog.  We have an interesting little quickie article here in Japanese, describing how 53% of respondents to a government survey “are worried about public safety, and want some policy measures taken” with the proposed increase of NJ tourism.  Nice of the GOJ to anticipate public fear and public need for security measures against NJ.  Some more leading questions, please?  Hey, the NJ are fair game in GOJ surveys, it seems.  See what I mean here, here, and here.  Debito

外国人客増、5割強が「不安」=「観光庁知らない」6割−政府世論調査
11月23日2時52分配信 時事通信
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20081122-00000121-jij-pol
Courtesy of Getchan and Dave Spector

 日本を訪れる外国人旅行客が増えることについて、5割強の人が治安面で不安に感じていることが政府の「観光立国と観光庁に関する世論調査」で22日、分かった。訪日外国人客(年間)は、2007年に過去最高の835万人を記録。政府は10年までに1000万人に増やすのを目標に誘致活動を進めているが、受け入れ態勢の整備とともに治安対策の強化も求められそうだ。

 調査結果では、外国人客が増えたと感じている人は8割。ただ、外国人客の増加について聞いた質問(複数回答)では、「治安面から不安で、何らかの対策が必要」と答えた人が最も多く53%。「地域社会でトラブルが多くなる」も27%いた。「国際交流が進む」は51%、「地域経済の活性化につながる」は40%だった。
ENDS

8 comments on “Yahoo News: 政府の世論調査: 外国人客増、5割強が「不安」GOJ survey: More than 50% fear NJ tourist influx

  • Sounds like an excuse to have police harass NJ even more for the suits’ political gain. They’ve been just tapping into the fears of people over and over again.

    Do you think Minshuto has a chance to win next year? Not sure how popular Aso and his friends are right now. Not that I think another party is necessarily going to change things, but I wouldn’t mind seeing them given the chance. If they could do something about the lack of independence of judges and the bureaucratic criminal justice system maybe things would get better. I dunno.

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  • These news make me laugh and also make me sad.
    They have internet, they travel, they meet foreigners even here, they read, they study and
    the result is 53% of respondants think that security measures are to be taken because
    they fear public security will lower ? How ignorant.
    We are not talking about criminalas or illegal immigrants anyway,
    we are talking about TOURISTS…(even if somebody will sneak inside as a tourist
    to stay as an illegal but that’s the exception).

    Japan needs a better education at home, at school, and moreover from the media
    ,especially TV, which are the ruin (in my opinion) of this country.
    It seems to live in a countryside village, not in an INTERNATIONAL country…

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  • I wonder what kind of “policies” the public feels need to be implemented. I mean, every tourist is already fingerprinted upon entry, hotels are required to photocopy your passport if you do not have a 外国人カード to prove that you have a permanent address in Japan, and it has become increasingly clear that the public at least passively supports the idea of random ID checks in major transportation hubs of people who look foreign. Really, what else is there to add?…

    Reply
  • Obviously it’s not clear to the masses here that more tourists equals more money and more jobs for Japanese.

    It does seem here that the government has once again asked a loaded question, and got the answer they wanted.

    Reply
  • Andrew Smallacombe says:

    I’d love to see the survey to get a better idea on how the questions are loaded.
    It’s funny how NJs are implicated in crime. Take the recent murders of those officials. Early into the investigations one news program kept repeating that the culprit was wearing shoes made in South East Asia, as if trying to tie the region into the crime.

    — Yes, a friend also told me: “One ex-cop turned journalist was quoted in Nikkan Gendai as saying they can’t rule out the killer being the act of a foreigner “Ajia-kei gaikokujin” whose motive would be to sow panic among the Japanese populace. Very inventive, but I don’t think anybody’s taking his bait.”

    Cops just seem to love to blame NJ; they don’t seem to think that domestic criminals are all that creative in approach. (“Posing as delivery man with a box! Who’da thunk it possible!!??”)

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  • and who wants to increase tourism up to 20mln a year? Well, here we are again. They probably asked old people who watch only NHK to answer questions with answer already provided. It sucks more and more here.
    Do those people watch JTV at all or only foreign Police drama? Who we should afraid the most? Don`t they see? Who kills everyday? Foreigners? As long as GoJ along with TV spread their propaganda it will never be better. As long as they do not forbid practice such refusing entry to foreigners, rent apartments to foreigners etc it will never change.

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  • Wait a sec, courtesy of “Dave Spector?” This is a different guy, right?

    — No, the very same. He’s a very helpful guy.

    Reply
  • “Obviously it’s not clear to the masses here that more tourists equals more money and more jobs for Japanese.”
    Actually, Johnny, it is. From the last sentence of the article:
    「国際交流が進む」は51%、「地域経済の活性化につながる」は40%だった。 
    “51% of the respondents feel that the increase in foreign tourists facilitates international communication/understanding, and 40% think that it stimulates the local economy.”

    As opposed to only 27% who think there will be an increase in problems at the local level (from the second sentence).

    However I think the stats quoted are presented too shallowly – 53% of respondents say they are “concerned about public safety” and want the government to “take measures”. What exactly does this mean? Afraid of crime, or afraid of (for example) Americans and Canadians who are used to cars driving on the opposite side of the road looking the wrong way as they step into traffic? Concerned about vandalism or concerned about people smoking next to 1000 year-old temples because they can’t read the “no smoking” signs? A sudden influx of people who don’t speak the language, don’t know the customs, can’t even read the body language correctly, what-have-you, is going to cause “concern”. It should cause concern. The question is, how do you act on that concern? Do you stem the influx, or do you ask the government to (through the tourism boards) take measures to ensure rules are properly spelled out when needed, guides or guidebooks are available to help the tourists find what they need to easily, police are given classes in foreign languages, etc.? All of these latter steps would make things easier for both tourists and natives, and help ensure the tourists get the most out of their visit and come back again.

    In other words, having people ask for measures in and of itself is neither good nor bad, the issue is “what measures are you asking for”. This question is not addressed in the article, and so we can’t really read too much into the “53% are concerned” number.

    Reply

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