About 93 per cent of respondents to the survey said they were proud to be Japanese, while only 5.6 per cent said they were not proud, the paper said on Friday.

The most common reason given for pride was Japan's history, tradition and culture, at 72 per cent of respondents, up 19 percentage points from a similar survey in 1986, it said.

The second most popular reason for pride was the land and nature at 43 per cent, and the third was social stability and security at 28 per cent.

The percentage of respondents citing the economy as a reason to feel proud fell 17 points from the 1986 survey to 19 per cent.

Economics Minister Hiroko Ota caused a stir last week when she told Parliament that Japan was no longer a 'first-class economy'. Gloom over the prospects for the economy has contributed to a slide of almost a third in the Nikkei share average in the past six months.

'This is a sign of fear that Japan is sinking amid globalism,' said professor Masahiko Fujiwara of Tokyo's Ochanomizu University, in a column in the paper. 'It is only now that the Japanese economy is being hit by globalism, that people are becoming aware of the country's good points.'

Pride in the country's education and technology dived 22 percentage points from 1986 levels, with 19 per cent citing this as a factor in national pride.

Conservative commentators often bemoan a lack of public spirit among Japan's youth, but 65 per cent of respondents in their 20s said they wanted to contribute to the nation.

The survey of 1,780 people was carried out in face-to-face interviews on Jan 12 and 13, the paper said. -- REUTERS