抄録
The discharge of ALPS treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi NPP into the sea began in August 2023. In Japan, the feared reputational damage did not occur. In this paper, our analysis of public opinion polls conducted by news organizations and a web survey conducted by us reveals the following points. (1) Within a relatively short period of time after the discharge began, the percentage of people who approved of the discharge increased significantly, and concerns about the potential impact on seafood and other products decreased significantly. (2) Many people had seen and heard about the safety of the discharge, mainly on television, and thought the news was telling them there were no safety issues. (3) Many people knew that China was opposed to the discharge. Many Japanese viewed China's opposition critically as “for diplomatic and political reasons” and “not based on scientific evidence and not rational”. This tendency was associated with a low favorability toward China. (4) The higher the age group, the more likely they were to have (2) and (3). This is thought to be an effect of differences in news exposure across age groups. The fact that there were many TV reports about acts by some Chinese people immediately after the discharge was confirmed by the analysis of the program broadcast database. These results suggest that media coverage of the conflict between Japan and China over the discharge of the treated water and the harassment, had influenced Japanese people's acceptance of their own country's views and explanations.
