Why This Topic Landed in Japan

Two stories converged to spotlight how coldly many in Japan now view East Asia's authoritarian states. A poll put Japanese favorability toward China at a record-low 12%—a number so striking it crystallized a cool consensus that "there's no reason to like a dictatorship." Separately, an Asahi Shimbun piece on the 1959–84 "repatriation project"—in which more than 90,000 people crossed to North Korea believing the propaganda of a "paradise on earth"—drew anger that the paper never addressed its own role in promoting that campaign. Pew Research data support the roughly 11–12% favorability figure and the deep distrust, and court rulings and human-rights groups back the grim reality of the repatriation drive, though characterizations of "CCP influence operations" or of Asahi as the "ringleader" are political readings rather than established fact.

Key Reaction Themes

  • A consensus of distrust toward China — "No reason to like a dictatorship" and "their influence ops are too obvious," delivered coolly rather than heatedly.
  • "12% is high" — Sardonic surprise that even one in ten still holds a favorable view.
  • Holding Asahi to account — Demands that the paper answer for once hyping the repatriation project, and jabs at its "freedom not to report."

What Japanese Netizens Are Saying

China favorability hits a record low of 12%

Reactions to a poll showing Japanese favorability toward China at a record low of 12%.

保守速
保守速
@hoshusokuhou
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【2026最新】日本人、中国への好感度12%　最低を記録 ・非常に好意的1% ・やや好意的11% ・あまり好ましくない39% ・全く好ましくない49% ■24年前と比較（好意55%：非好意42%） 2002年 → 2026年 ・非常に好意的：8％ → 1％ ・やや好意的：47％ → 11％（激減！） ・あまり好ましくない：35％ → Show more

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Sources: Newsweek, 2ch

Comments:

  • "There's still a whole 1% who are spies, look at that."
  • "12% is high, honestly."
  • "Because the CCP's influence ops are so easy to spot."
  • "Is there any reason to like a dictatorial military state like China?"
  • "Are they running operations to make themselves hated? It makes no sense."
  • "China has no upside besides being cheap; it's a country that keeps getting pricier while eating away at Japan—I want nothing to do with it."
  • "Sending the pandas back was the right call after all."
  • "It's funny that more Japanese naturally come to dislike China—doing nothing—than Chinese dislike Japan after all their anti-Japan education."
  • "What are the 12% even thinking?"
  • "The problem is that Made-in-China products don't drop off in proportion to this."

North Korea's "paradise on earth" repatriation project

Reactions to a report on the harsh reality that awaited those who believed North Korea was a "paradise."

Sources: Asahi, 2ch

Comments:

  • "This has nothing to do with Japan anymore."
  • "Exercising the 'freedom not to report' on how their own paper was involved in the repatriation project—same as always, I suppose."
  • "You're the one saying this?!"
  • "You're the ringleader, aren't you."
  • "The ones complaining about Japan should just go to the 'paradise' too."
  • "Huh? Wasn't it 'Akahi' who did the deceiving?"
  • "What about the responsibility of the media that called it a paradise?"
  • "I'd love to make the Koreans who repatriated back then, and the Japanese who went over, read this article. Wonder what they'd say."
  • "So in other words, that place wasn't on this earth."
  • "So a present-day reporter wrote it to criticize their own paper. This is the limit of what they can manage, huh."