世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s a fun little ranking survey from DIMSDRIVE Research: as part of their 117th Ranking Survey they asked members of their monitor group what they did when by themselves in a lift (or elevator).

Demographics

Between the 9th and 17th of May 2007 7,735 members of their monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 44.3% of the sample was male.

I can guess what you’re thinking is one of the things the Japanese do, and yes, they do admit to doing that! The women are not as frequent as the men, despite a suspicion I had that perhaps they saved them up from when they were at home.

Ranking results

Q: When you are the only person riding in a lift, what can you just not help doing? (Sample size=7,735, free answer)

Rank	Action	Votes
1	Preening myself	1,586
2	Staring at the floor indicator	286
3	Singing or humming	209
4	Stretching	173
5	Searching for the security camera	159
6	Passing gas	138
7=	Picking my nose	106
7=	Looking up	106
9	Talking to the wall	84
10	Pressing the buttons a lot	79

Q: When you are the only person riding in a lift, what can you just not help doing? (Sample size=7,735, by sex, free answer)

Rank	Male N=3,425	Votes	Rank	Female N=4,310	Votes
1	Preening myself	341	1	Preening myself	1245
2	Staring at the floor indicator	136	2	Staring at the floor indicator	150
3	Singing or humming	105	3	Stretching	116
4	Passing gas	103	4	Singing or humming	104
5	Picking my nose	68	5	Searching for the security camera	95
6	Searching for the security camera	64	6	Talking to the wall	49
7	Looking up	60	7	Looking up	46
8	Stretching	57	8	Yawning	45
9	Talking to myself	45	9	Pressing the close button	38
10	Pressing the buttons a lot	44	10=	Picking my nose	38
			10=	Exercising my face	38

I’m not sure what the difference between talking to the wall and to oneself is!

Other interesting activities that featured in the list were jumping, popular with both young men and grannies, and searching for the maker, popular with women in their fifties.