Japanese General Social Surveys (JGSS) Series

The Japanese General Social Surveys (JGSS) Project is a Japanese version of the original General Social Survey (GSS) project conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), University of Chicago. The surveys were designed to solicit political, sociological, and economic information from people living in Japan. They provide data for analyses of Japanese society, attitudes, and behaviors, which makes possible international comparisons. The objectives of the JGSS Project are three-fold: (1) to collect and build cumulative data on general social surveys in Japan in a regular and consistent manner, thus enabling a time-series analysis; (2) to provide data for secondary analyses to researchers and university students in various social science fields; and, (3) to provide data in a format useful for international comparative studies, research, and reports. The surveys were conducted in the Japanese language only, but the data files and codebooks are produced and deposited both in Japanese and English. The JGSS surveys are conducted once yearly or once in two years. To date, the following JGSS surveys have been conducted: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, and surveys for 2006 and 2008 have been planned.