世論 What Japan Thinks

DIMSDRIVE Research conducted an opinion poll amongst 6,416 members (39.9% male) of the their internet monitor group about their attitudes to outer space tourism. Having solved the food problem for the third who worry about eating in space, perhaps next the ISS engineers need to address the lack of a washlet in the inflight loo?

Q1: Do you think you want to travel into outer space? (Sample size=6,416)

Definitely want to go	33.7%
Somewhat want to go	33.8%
Don’t really want to go	15.0%
Don’t want to go at all	14.4%
Don’t know	3.1%

On average, men were 10 percentage points more likely to definitely want to go, but the older both sexes got, the less keen they were.

Q2: For those who want to go, who do you want to go with? (Sample size=4,330, multiple answer)

Spouse	50.0%
Children	31.6%
Alone	23.1%
Boy/girlfriend	22.8%
Friend	21.6%
Parent	11.6%
Brothers or sisters	7.6%
Aunt or uncle	1.2%
Others	0.9%

The most common other travelling companion was pets!

Q3: About how long would you want to spend in space? (Sample size=4,330)

A few hours	7.1%
About one day	17.3%
Two or three days	37.7%
Four of five days	8.1%
About a week	21.9%
Two or three weeks	2.7%
About a month	2.7%
More than a month	2.5%

Q4: Do you have any worries about space travel? (Sample size=4,330, multiple answer)

Whether I’ll return safely	78.0%
Damage to my body	58.8%
Toilet	58.7%
Food and drink	32.4%
Preparations	26.4%
Injury	24.1%
Whether I can contact anyone	21.9%
Sleeping	21.4%
Other	3.8%
Nothing in particular	4.2%

Other worries included bathing or showering and life insurance.

Q5: Have you heard about JTB (Japan Travel Bureau) http://www.jtbgmt.com/japannow/ introducing an outer space travel plan? (Sample size=6,416)

Yes	56.3%
No	43.7%

Q6: Which of the following travel experiences would you most like to go on? (Sample size=4,330)

Moon visit	35.8%
One week on the Space Station	34.4%
Sub-orbital flight	19.5%
Supersonic jet ride	7.9%
Don’t know or none of them	2.4%

Q7: Excluding the don’t knows and don’t wants, how much would you pay for your trip? (Sample size=4,220)

	Moon	ISS	Sub-orbital	Supersonic
Up to 1,000,000 yen	28.1%	23.9%	27.5%	56.3%
Up to 5,000,000 yen	15.9%	15.2%	36.4%	34.9%
Up to 10,000,000 yen	11.3%	13.4%	27.3%	3.5%
Up to 30,000,000 yen	4.7%	6.7%	4.9%	3.0%
Up to 50,000,000 yen	9.0%	7.5%	2.0%	1.6%
Up to 100,000,000 yen	17.6%	23.9%	1.8%	0.6%
Up to 500,000,000 yen	9.0%	8.9%	0.1%	0.4%
Up to 1,000,000,000 yen	3.0%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%
More than a billion yen	1.4%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%

Q8: Why don’t you want to go into space? (Sample size=1.885, multiple answer)

Price is high	71.1%
Worry about whether I would return home safely	62.7%
Dangerous	44.6%
Worry about my weak body	44.1%
Perparations seem arduous	39.2%
I don’t like heights	17.3%
Never been interested in space	14.3%
Worry about food	13.7%
Don’t like travel	2.4%
Other	5.5%

Q9: Do you think aliens exist? (Sample size=6,416)

Definitely	25.3%
I think so	45.8%
I don’t think so	10.4%
Definitely not	2.3%
Don’t know	16.2%

Note that the Japanese word 宇宙人 (uchuujin, space man) used here implies human-like form and intelligence, not some simple entity such as bacteria or other microbes. From a religious point of view, Buddhism is comfortable with the concept of an infinte number of other world systems each with intelligent life, although how many people used that as a basis of their answer, I don’t know.

Finally, everyone was asked to name a film representative of a space theme. The ranking was as follows:

Star Wars	2390
E.T.	980
2001: A Space Odyssey	591
Close Encounters of the Third Kind	347
War of the Worlds	264
Star Trek	200
Armageddon	176
Alien	147
Space Cruiser Yamato	122
Planet of the Apes	100
Apollo 13	86
Independence Day	80
Mars Attacks!	42
Galaxy Express 999	33
Deep Impact	28
Mobile Suit Gundam	26
Contact	24
Battle in Outer Space	20