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

A recent survey in Japan reveals that 26.8% of respondents view the United States as the greatest threat to global peace, second only to China at 32.5%. This marks a significant increase of 9.3 percentage points from the previous fiscal year's survey, where the figure was 6.6%. The Japan Press Research Institute's latest fiscal 2026 poll, released on Saturday, asked participants to identify one country out of eight potential threats, including Russia and North Korea.

China showed a 8.2 point rise, with 18.3% of respondents selecting it as the biggest threat. Russia dropped to third place, with 18.3% choosing it, after topping previous surveys. North Korea remained fourth, with 9.1%, while Iran, a country embroiled in military conflict with the U.S., was chosen by just 1.9%. The survey's official attributed the growing perception of U.S. threat to the unpredictability of actions taken by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Notably, 82.5% of respondents believe Trump negatively impacts the world, a 3.1 point increase, while only 13.2% think he has a positive effect. The survey, conducted between July 17 and August 16, polled 5,000 individuals aged 18 or older across Japan, with 2,676 providing valid responses.