The role of ethnicity in the development of the asian students' attitudes toward Japanese and other cultures

This study investigated the effects of various factors on the Asian students' attitudes toward Japanese people and other cultures. It has been reported that the visiting students' attitudes toward Japanese are significantly related to friendship with Japanese and discrimination. In this study, we approached the development of attitudes from the view of ethnicity. The following factors were examined : friendship with Japanese, favorable experiences concerning the students' ethnicity, unpleasant experiences concerning the students' ethnicity (discrimination), and respect of Japanese for the students' ethnicity. Four hundred and sixty-eight (468) Asian students attending universities in Japan responded to the questionnaire. The data obtained were examined by path-analysis. The results showed that friendship and favorable experiences contributed positively to attitudes toward the Japanese through the factor of respect for ethnicity. Unpleasant experiences had a direct negative effect on attitudes. Attitudes toward the Japanese were related significantly with attitudes toward people with other cultures. The importance of a host country's respect for the visiting students' ethnicity was discussed.