The Country Image of The Czech Republic from the Perspective of Japanese

Abstract

The question of this study is how the Japanese imagine the Czech Republic. The aim of this study is to clarify the factors that constitute the image of the Czech Republic through the interview survey. It is apparent that, overall, the respondents do not have an image of the Czech Republic as economically developed. On the other hand, there is a tendency for respondents to consider working conditions and the level of education to be good or at least above a certain level. With regard to security, more people imagine that the Czech Republic is safe than those who imagine that the Czech Republic is not safe. Most respondents also indicated that the Czech Republic has an image of ethnic diversity. The image of Czechs' character is frequently expressed with words such as serious, diligent, hard-working, honest, calm, and laid-back. Many respondents imagined the Czech Republic as a comfortable country to live in. The two factors that seemed to influence the formation of the Czech image in this interview survey are "culture and arts" and "historical background," which includes Eastern Europe, socialism and communism, Russia and the Soviet Union. The "culture and art" factor evoked positive images such as "beautiful," "admired," and "high standard," while the "historical background" factor evoked negative...