Japan: Have Nuclear Arrows Moved?

Abstract

Lately, when restarting nuclear weapons debate, Japan has to strike a delicate balance since, as the only country to have experienced the horrors of a nuclear attack, it remains committed to leading discussions on bringing about a world without nuclear weapons and continues to face calls from survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings to do more to achieve that. Although there are several factors that can critically affect the anti-nuclear stance of Japanese public, this paper, based on results of opinion polls 2018–2022 and researches about nuclear issues debates, focuses on Japanese public opinion towards deployment of nuclear weapons in the territory of Japan and analyzing one, but specific factor, which can affect the Japanese public while discussing this issue – social pressure among the Japanese in the society. Highlighting the importance of social pressure in public opinion toward different issues in both in Japanese society and the online arena, the author makes a conclusion that Japanese people are less likely to succumb to social pressure in matters they consider vital.