Susceptibility to threatening information and attitudes toward refugee resettlement: The case of Japan
| Published date | 01 May 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00223433221079455 |
| Date | 01 May 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Regular Articles |
Susceptibility to threatening information
and attitudes toward refugee resettlement:
The case of Japan
Yusaku Horiuchi
Department of Government, Dartmouth College
Yoshikuni Ono
Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University
Abstract
A growing number of news articles and politicians’ statements treat refugees as potential terrorists. However, existing
research has yet to thoroughly examine how threatening information about refugees affects natives’ attitudes toward
refugee resettlement. To address this issue, we conducted a survey experiment in Japan, where the number of refugees
accepted each year is extremely small, despite the rapid increase in news about refugees. Our results show that
opposition to refugee resettlement is associated with its proximity. Specifically, we find two types of NIMBY (not-in-
my-backyard) attitudes – within-country and between-country NIMBY-ism – toward refugee resettlement among
Japanese people. Additionally, respondents become more strongly opposed to refugee resettlement when exposed to
threatening frames that depict refugees as harmful, regardless of the proximity to threats and potential resettlement.
These findings add nuance to the scholarly literature on threat perceptions and public attitudes in intergroup
relations. First, our findings suggest that NIMBY attitudes toward refugee resettlement (shown in Ferwerda, Flynn
& Horiuchi, 2017) are not a US-only phenomenon. Second, we provide empirical evidence to support the theory
that subjectively perceived threats affect people’s hostility toward out-group members, even in the absence of actual
threats. Finally, we contribute to the recent debate on the effects of proximity to threats. Our results support the
argument that the psychological effects of terrorism on negative attitudes toward immigrants and refugees are more
pronounced in homogeneous societies, irrespective of proximity to the threat.
Keywords
framing effect, intergroup relations, Japan, NIMBY, refugees
Introduction
The number of refugees – people forced to leave their
country due to civil war, violence, or persecution – is
rapidly increasing.
1
According to the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at the end
of 2020, a record high of 82.4 million people had
been forcibly displaced.
2
World leaders are discussing
how to tackle this global refugee crisis,
3
which requires
Corresponding author:
yusaku.horiuchi@dartmouth.edu
1
The pandemic of COVID-19 since late 2019 has severely restricted
people’s movement across borders. As we fielded our survey
experiment in 2017, we did not consider the unusual current
situation when discussing our empirical findings. Hence, examining
public opinion about refugee resettlement during and after the
pandemic is an essential agenda for future research.
2
UNHCR, Refugee Data Finder, https://www.unh cr.org/refugee-
statistics/ (last accessed on 20 August 2021).
3
UNHCRrefers to the rapidincrease in displacedSyrians as ‘theworld’s
largest refugeecrisis in decades’ (UNHCR, https://www.unhcr.org/en-
us/syria-emergency.html,last accessed on 20 August2021).
Journal of Peace Research
2023, Vol. 60(3) 459–473
ªThe Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/00223433221079455
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