An increasing percentage of young people in Japan, South Korea, the United States, Germany and Sweden see Japan's economy as waning and Japanese as less diligent than before, according to the results of a government survey released Monday.
Respondents in the 2003 survey were less inclined to say they think of Japan as "economically wealthy," compared with the two previous surveys, in 1993 and 1998, probably reflecting the prolonged economic recession here.
The Cabinet Office survey was conducted between February and June on about 1,000 people each in the five countries. The respondents were aged between 18 and 24.