26% in Japan see U.S. as biggest threat to world peace: survey

A media association survey has found that the proportion of people in Japan who think the United States is the biggest threat to world peace came to 26.8%, the second highest after China, cited by 32.5%.

The rate for the United States rose 9.3 percentage points from the previous fiscal 2025 survey. The figure stood at 6.6% in fiscal 2024.

In the Japan Press Research Institute’s latest fiscal 2026 survey, released Saturday, participants were asked to pick one of the eight choices, including Russia and North Korea, as the country that they think poses the greatest threat to world peace.

China was up from second place, with its share rising 8.2 points.

Selected by 18.3%, Russia fell to third after ranking top in preceding surveys.

North Korea remained fourth, with 9.1%, while Iran, which has been in a military conflict with the United States, was chosen by 1.9%.

An official of the institute said that “the recognition that the United States poses a threat to the world is gradually expanding” due to the unpredictability of actions by U.S. President Donald Trump.

In the survey, a total of 82.5% of respondents said that Trump is having a negative impact on the world, including those who somewhat think so, up 3.1 points. The share of respondents who think Trump is having a good impact came to 13.2%.

The survey also showed that 76.7% have a sense of crisis very much or somewhat about a potential Taiwan contingency.

The survey was conducted between July 17 and Aug. 16, covering 5,000 people age 18 or over across Japan. Valid responses were received from 2,676.