According to a Gallup survey conducted in February-March last year, a sample of opinion leaders in the four provinces of Pakistan felt friendly toward Japan. However, the Pakistani image of Japan tends to be based on Japanese products such as cars, TV and other audio-visual equipment, textile machinery, and so forth. How the Japanese live and feel, or the human dimensions of the Japanese people, are not all that visible. For the better part of the last decade, I have had direct exposures to the international media in Tokyo, London, and various capitals around the world in my role as spokesman. From this experience, I know that there are mixed images about Japan.
Japan is half the size of Pakistan with roughly the same population.
With its GDP second only to the United States, its prevalent image was that of an economic giant. These days, headlines abound about Japan's ailing economy. It is faced with the challenges of massive structural adjustment, like a giant tanker changing its course. Some have predicted the emergence of Japan as an increasingly self-assertive great power, while some others have criticized Japan for being a reluctant player on the international scene. Japan's challenge in terms of its image is to send a coherent message as to its role in the world.