Abstract
The objective of this paper is to discuss the sense of trust of the East Asian countries (Japan, China [Beijing, Shanghai, & Hong Kong], Taiwan, South Korea, & Singapore) as it is reflected in the response data of our East Asia Value Survey conducted during 2002-2005. I will present some data analyses on the variability of people's trust systems in order to explore what aspects of their sense of trust are stable over many decades and what aspects are variable under the longitudinal changes of economic and political conditions. Firstly, I will explain briefly the background of this study. Secondly, I will explain the history of our longitudinal and a series of cross-national surveys on national character. Thirdly, I will summarize some aspects of people's sense of trust in our longitudinal survey of Japanese national character as well as cross-national comparative surveys. I focus my analysis on the data of the East Asia Survey, but I integrate also data of other surveys such as our seven-nation survey conducted during 1987-1993, General Social Survey and World Value Survey. Finally, I will provide some comments for the future research.
