TOKYO, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Japanese people who say they have a negative view of U.S.-Japan relations outnumbered those with a positive view, a poll indicates.
The poll, conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper and Gallup, found 41 percent of respondents said they viewed relations between the two countries as "poor" or "very poor," while 35 percent called relations "good" or "very good," the newspaper reported.
It marked the second straight year when those saying they had a negative view of U.S.-Japan relations outnumbered those saying they had a positive view.
The percentage of respondents who said they trust the United States "very much" or "somewhat" was 47 percent, down 5 percentage points from 2010, and 42 percent said they do not trust the United States "very much" or "at all," up 5 points from last year.
The poll also found 82 percent of Japanese respondents said they believed the lack of progress on relocation of the U.S. Marines Futenma Air Station on Okinawa has had a negative impact on the relationship -- up 3 percentage points from last year.
Meanwhile, 94 percent of Japanese respondents said they appreciated the U.S. response to the devastating March earthquake and tsunami in Japan, in which as many as 20,000 U.S. service members responded -- among other things, searching for missing people and transporting relief supplies.
Among U.S. respondents to the poll, 52 percent called U.S.-Japan relations "good" or "very good" to only 8 percent who called relations "poor" or "very poor."
The poll is based on a telephone survey of 1,023 people in Japan Dec. 2-4 and 1,006 people in the United States Nov. 28-Dec. 4.
