The survey first asked people if they feel friendly toward the United States. 41.4 percent said yes and 40.5 percent said they are more inclined to say yes than no. 82 percent of the people polled made positive responses up about 2 percentage points from last year to hit the highest ever number.
The Foreign Ministry said many people must have felt close ties with the United States when they watched American soldiers help the Japanese people in the areas devastated by the quake and tsunami on March 11.
Now let's take a look at China. When asked about their sense of closeness with China, the percentage of positive answers was up by 6 percentage points from last year to 26.3 percent, while negative answers dropped by about 6 points to 71.4 percent
The Foreign Ministry said the collision between the Chinise fishing boat and Japan Coast Guard ships near the Senkaku Islands in September last year aggravated the Japanese people's feelings against China but the tension between the countries has eased since then and Japanese people are beginning to feel more positive about China.