Nov. 28, 2009 (The Yomiuri Shimbun) -- Is Japan such a hideous and unstable place to live, surrounded by dangers and fears?
The answer seems to be yes, according to the result of an anxiety index survey by the New York-based advertising firm JWT. (NASDAQ:WPPGY) About 90 percent of Japanese experience anxiety, the highest rate among the 11 countries surveyed and almost triple the nation with the lowest rate, China.
The level of those who feel "intense anxiety" was estimated to be 25 percent in Japan, following 38 percent in Russia and 30 percent in India.
The company surveyed people aged 18 and older from February to September in 11 countries: Japan, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, India, Russia, Spain and the United States. The responses from 203 to 1,273 people from each country were weighed by age, gender and household income based on each nation's government population statistics.
In Japan, 500 people were surveyed in March. Among the nine primary drivers of anxiety, 93 percent cited the "state of the economy," the category reflecting the highest rate in all 11 nations. Next was "political leadership" at 91 percent, "cost of health care" at 89 percent and "cost of living" at 87 percent.
According to JWT Japan, the company's Tokyo office, Japanese tend to become flustered once stability and harmony in life are lost, due to their culture that values these two factors. Considering that Japan was hit by the present world recession when the economy was just about to improve after a nearly 20-year standstill, the survey results are not difficult to understand, JWT Japan said.
Looking at the anxiety index, the 91 percent "political leadership" figure reflected the greatest difference from other nations--in the weighted answers, Japan showed 1,036 points, far above the 11-nation average of 241. The "state of the economy" figure of Japan was 1,329 points, nearly triple the 473 average.
Among the 14 detailed anxiety drivers, Japanese were the highest at 706 points in "quality of products imported from China," in contrast to the 10 other nations' figures that all hovered around 200 points.
Japanese also indicated a great deal of anxiety when queried on the topics of "the government's budget deficit," "unemployment rates" and the "safety of the food supply."
In the 11-nation average index, "food prices" garnered the highest score at 378 points, followed by "unemployment rates" at 368 points.
The nations with the least amount of anxiety-ridden people were China at 35 percent, France at 42 percent and Canada at 55 percent.
In the "overall anxiety" and "intense anxiety" categories, Japan, Russia and India took the top three positions.
