Covid-19 and the Japanese Soft Power - How the Japanese Covid-19 Border Measures affected international students' opinion of Japan

Abstract

The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of the Japanese Covid-19 Border Measures on the Japanese Soft Power, with a focus on how international student’s opinion of Japan has changed with the pandemic. After introducing the topic of Soft Power and explaining what the main sources of the Japanese Soft Power are, I will summarize how the Japanese government handled the spread of the Coronavirus, by applying some of the world’s strictest border measures, also known as 水際対策 (Mizugiwataisaku) and analyze how these measures have affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of international students. In pursue of this objective, an online survey inquiring how the Japanese Covid-19 Border Measures affected international students' opinion of Japan has been conducted. The target of the survey were international students who studied in Japanese Universities, Japanese language schools, vocational schools, etc., before March 2020 (before the Covid-19 Border Measures), from March 2020 to February 2022 (during the Covid-19 Border Measures), after February 2022 (after the Covid-19 Border Measures), as well as students who studied at Japanese educational institutions across multiple periods and students who were planning to study in Japan, but were unable to due to the Japanese Covid-19 restrictions. By comparing the answers given by these four groups of individuals, the research concludes that students who were not affected by the Japanese Covid-19 Border Measures tend to have a better opinion of the country, while students who were affected still show clear signs of dissatisfaction and resentment towards the Japanese Government, however, a significant portion of students who were not affected by the border measures declared that their opinion of Japan has worsened.