Gento Kato

Japanese Public Opinion Datasets

This is a list of academic surveys in Japan that involve political questions. Individual level data for almost all surveys are publicly available (some for a fee). Datasets with English-translated codebook and/or variable labels are shown as RED, and datasets with English description (but without English variable labels or codebooks) are shown as BLUE. Datasets with no English information are shown as BLACK.

Note that this list DOES NOT include comparative public opinion datasets that involve multiple countries (including Japan). I am thinking about creating a separate list for those datasets.

Please let me know if there are any broken links or questions!

Election Surveys

Waseda (–Yomiuri) Surveys [1996–]

The series of surveys conducted by the group of public opinion scholars (incl., Aiji Tanaka) now mainly from Waseda University, Tokyo. After mid-2000s, interviews are often conducted in collaboration with Yomiuri newspaper.

• Waseda-CASI2010: The national level representative election survey in Japan. It was conducted in two waves of panel surveys, before and after the 2010 the House of Councilors (HoC) election in Japan. The data collection is made by Computer Assisted Self-Administered Interview (CASI). Descriptions and data are available from SSJDA [日本語 / English]. Codebooks are available from SSJDA or Waseda University [日本語]. (They used to have a English codebook, but currently it is not publicly accessible. Ask them if you can personally get the one.)
  
  

• Waseda-CASI&PAPI2009: The national level representative election survey in Japan. It was conducted in two waves, before and after the 2009 House of Representatives (HoR) election in Japan (June through August). It splits the identical questionnaire into two data collection formats of PAPI (paper and pencil interview) and CASI (computer assisted self-administered inteview). Descriptions and data are available from SSJDA [日本語 / English]. Codebooks are available from SSJDA or Waseda University [日本語]. (They used to have a English codebook, but currently it is not publicly accessible. Ask them if you can personally get the one.)
  
  

• Waseda-CASI&PAPI2007: The national level representative election survey in Japan. It was conducted in two waves, before and after the 2007 House of Councillors (HoC) election in Japan. It splits the identical questionnaire into two data collection formats of PAPI (paper and pencil interview) and CASI (computer assisted self-administered inteview). Descriptions and data are available from SSJDA [日本語 / English]. Codebooks are available from SSJDA or Waseda University [日本語]. (They used to have a English codebook but currently it is not publicly accessible. Ask them if you can personally get the one.)
  
  

• JSS-GLOPE2003-04: The set of national level representative election surveys in Japan. It is conducted in four waves, before and after 2003 House of Representatives (HoR) election, and before and after 2004 House of Councillors (HoC) election. Data collection is made by PAPI (Paper and Pencil Interview) in first three waves, and by mail in fourth wave. Descriptions and data are available from SSJDA [日本語 / English]. Codebooks are available from SSJDA or Waseda University [日本語].
  
  

• JEDS96: The national level representative election surveys in Japan. It is conducted in two waves, before and after 1996 House of Representatives (HoR) election. Data collection is mainly made by PAPI (Paper and Pencil Interview) and supplemented by mail. This survey includes the battery of questions from CSES project (module 1). Descriptions and data are available from SSJDA [日本語 / English] (English dataset available).

Todai–Asahi Surveys (UTAS) [2003–]

The series of election surveys conducted by public opinions scholars (incl., Masaki Taniguchi) mainly from the University of Tokyo. Interviews are conducted in collaboration with Asahi newspaper. This project conducts both public opinion survey and expert (electoral candidate) survey in every national level election since 2003. Descriptions and data are directly available from following project websites (no English description available):

• UTAS Public opnion surveys [日本語]
• UTAS Expert (electoral candidate) surveys [日本語]

Japanese Election Study (JES) [1976–]

The most long-standing election surveys in Japan. Each project is composed from series of panel surveys conducted in election time. It is started with the aim to fill in the role of American National Election Study (ANES) in Japan.

• JES VII (2021-): The national level election (and political) surveys in Japan conducted from 2012 through 2014. Note that the project no longer uses face-to-face interview and collected data through online surveys only. The Datasets and questionnaires are not available yet.
  
  

• JES VI (2017-2019): The national level election (and political) surveys in Japan conducted from 2017 through 2017. Note that the project no longer uses face-to-face interview and collected data through online surveys only. The Datasets and questionnaires are available per request from JES project website [日本語 / English].
  
  

• JES V (2012-2014): The national level election (and political) surveys in Japan conducted conducted from 2012 through 2014. Note that the project no longer uses face-to-face interview and is conducted through . The Datasets and questionnaires are available per request from JES project website [日本語 / English].
  
  

• JES IV (2007-2011): The set of national level representative election (and political) surveys in Japan conducted from 2007 through 2011. It is composed from seven waves of panel surveys, conducted in post-2007 House of Councillor (HoC) election, pre- and post-2009 House of Representatives (HoR) election, 2010 Janurary-February policial survey, pre- and post-2010 HoC election, and 2011 November-December political survey. Data collection is made by PAPI (Paper and Pencil Interview) in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th wave (election surveys), and by mail in 4th and 7th wave (political surveys). Data are available from SSJDA[日本語 / English] and JES project website [日本語 / English].
  
  

• JES III (2001-2005): The set of national level representative election surveys in Japan conducted from 2001 through 2004. It is composed from nine waves of panel surveys, conducted in pre- and post-2001 House of Councillor (HoC) election, pre-2003 general local election, pre- and post-2003 House of Representatives (HoR) election, pre- and post-2004 HoC election, and pre- and post-2005 HoR election. Post-2004 HoC wave includes battery of questions from CSES project (module 2). Data collection is made by PAPI (Paper and Pencil Interview). Data are available from multiple sources (SSJDA [日本語 / English]; Keio University [日本語 / English]; and Kansai University [日本語]), in slightly different versions.　For English versions, Keio University provides convenient access to English labeled dataset, but without English codebook.
  
  

• JES II (1993-1996): The set of national level representative election (and political) surveys in Japan conducted from 1993 through 1996. It is composed from seven waves of panel surveys, conducted in pre- and post-1993 House of Representatives (HoR) election, 1994 February policial survey, 1995 March polical survey, post-1995 House of Councillor (HoC) election, and pre- and post-1996 HoC election. Data collection is made by PAPI (Paper and Pencil Interview) in 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th wave, and by mail in 3rd, 4th and 5th wave. Data are available from multiple sources in slightly different versions: Keio University [日本語 / English] and Leviathan Data Bank (for a fee) [日本語].
  
  

• JES I (1983-1984): The set of national level representative election surveys in Japan conducted in 1983-84. It is composed from three waves of panel surveys, conducted in post-1983 House of Councillor (HoC) election (June-July), and pre- and post-1983 House of Representatives (HoR) election (December-January). Data collection is made by PAPI (Paper and Pencil Interview). Data are available from Leviathan Data Bank (for a fee) [日本語].
  
  

• JABISS (1976): The national level representative election surveys in Japan conducted in 1976. It is composed from two waves of panel surveys, conducted in pre- and post-1976 House of Representatives (HoR) election in Japan. Data collection is made by PAPI (Paper and Pencil Interview). Data are available from Leviathan Data Bank (for a fee) [日本語] and ICPSR [English].
  
  

• Japanese National Election Study (JNES) (1967): The national level representative election surveys in Japan conducted in 1976. It is composed from two waves of panel surveys, conducted in pre- and post-1967 House of Representatives (HoR) election in Japan. Data collection is made by PAPI (Paper and Pencil Interview). Data are available from ICPSR [English].

Political Surveys (Not-Election Time)

Waseda (–Yomiuri) Surveys [2000–]

• Waseda-PAPI2009: The national level representative political survey in Japan. It is a single-shot survey conducted in Februrary 2009, almost half year before the 2009 House of Representatives (HoR) election in Japan. The data collection is made by PAPI (Paper and Pencil Interview). Descriptions and data are available from SSJDA [日本語 / English]. Codebooks are available from SSJDA or Waseda University [日本語]. (They used to have a English codebook, but currently it is not publicly accessible. Ask them if you can personally get the one.)
  
  

• GLOPE2005-07: The national level representative political survey in Japan. Main survey was conducted in 2005 November two months after the 2005 House of Representative (HoR) election, and follow-up survey to the same respondents was conducted in 2007 February. Data collection is mainly made by PAPI (Paper and Pencil Interview), but 2007 follow-up survey experimentally assigned CASI (Computer Assisted Self-administered Interview) to the half of the respondents. Descriptions and data are available from SSJDA [日本語 / English]. Codebooks are available from SSJDA or Waseda University [日本語].
  
  

• JEDS2000: The national level representative political survey in Japan. Main survey was conducted in April through May 2000, followed up with the panel survey in October through November 2000. In addition to main respondents, this data include snowball samples of the main responedents. Data collection is made by PAPI (Paper and Pencil Interview) for main survey, and by mail for follow-up and snowball surveys. Descriptions and data are available from SSJDA [日本語 / English] (English dataset available).

Other Political Surveys

• Survey on the Image of Foreign Countries and Current Topics (2011-13): The series of online surveys conducted from October 2011 through September 2013. The project is organized by Masaru Kohno at Waseda University, and questions are specifically focused on foreign policy issues. It is composed from two 12 monthly waves of panel surveys (24 months in total). In addition, at each month, separate set of fresh sample respondents are asked with identiacl questions. Data collection is made online, through weighted samples of Nikkei Research monitors. Data is available in multiple formats from SSJDA with English-translated questionaires, as follows:

  • Wave 1-12 Panel Dataset [日本語 / English]
  • Wave 13-24 Panel Dataset [日本語 / English]
  • Wave 1-24 Fresh Sample Dataset [日本語 / English]

Social Surveys with Political Questions

JGSS (Japanese General Social Surveys) [1999–]

The series of social surveys that are parallel to General Social Surveys (GSS) in US. This often includes some political questions in the questinaire. Visit their website [日本語 / English] for more detail. Following datasets are available from SSJDA and ICPSR:

• JGSS-Pilot 1 (March 1999): SSJDA [日本語 / English]
• JGSS-Pilot 2 (October 1999): SSJDA [日本語 / English]
• JGSS-2000: SSJDA [日本語 / English]; ICPSR [English]
• JGSS-2001: SSJDA [日本語 / English]; ICPSR [English]
• JGSS-2002: SSJDA [日本語 / English]; ICPSR [English]
• JGSS-2003: SSJDA [日本語 / English]; ICPSR [English]
• JGSS Cumulative Data 2000-2003: SSJDA [日本語 / English]; ICPSR [English]
• JGSS-2005: SSJDA [日本語 / English]; ICPSR [English]
• JGSS-2006: SSJDA [日本語 / English]; ICPSR [English]
• JGSS-2008: SSJDA [日本語 / English]; ICPSR [English]
• JGSS-2010: SSJDA [日本語 / English]; ICPSR [English]
• JGSS-2012: SSJDA [日本語 / English]; ICPSR [English]