世論 What Japan Thinks

I’m personally not convinced that natsu-bate, fatigue brought on by the summer heat, really does exist as a diagnosable illness, or whether it is just another thing the Japanese like to complain about, just like stiff shoulders. Regardless of whether it is real or not, here comes another slighly incongruous double-header from goo Research, conducted in conjunction with the Yomiuri Shimbun, looking at both the upcoming upper house elections and the summer heat.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 24th of June 2007 546 people in their teens to their thirties who were members of the goo Research monitor group completed an internet-based questionnaire. The group was split 50:50 male and female, and 37% attended school or university, 26% were full-time company employees, and 13% were homemakers. More detailed information was not presented.

I’m not particularly surprised by Junichiro Koizumi coming tops of the poll, and Abe barely ranking, but I am surprised by the foreign secretary Taro Aso coming second, but after his recent Alzheimer’s comment, I wonder if he would drop out of the rankings were the survey repeated today.

Research results

Q1: Are you interested in the upcoming upper house election? (Sample size=546)

Very interested	20.7%
A little interested	35.9%
Not really interested	22.7%
Not interested at all	17.6%
Don’t know	3.1%

Note that 20 is the voting age in Japan, so all the teenagers in this sample cannot vote.

Q2: Do you think that just one’s own vote in the upper house elections can make the country’s government better? (Sample size=546)

	All	10-19 y.o.	20-29 y.o.	30-39 y.o.
Think so	11%	12%	8%	13%
Think so a little	32%	34%	31%	32%
Don’t really think so	23%	18%	27%	23%
Don’t think so	27%	21%	28%	30%
Don’t know	7%	14%	6%	2%

Q3: What characteristics do you think are needed in today’s politicians? (Sample size=546, multiple answer)

Ability to get things done	66%
Sincerity	61%
Judgement	54%
Clean hands	53%
Having the common touch	42%
Internationalism	36%
Ability to enact policy	34%
Appearance	5%
Other	9%
Nothing in particular	1%
Don’t know	2%

Q4: Would you like to be a politician? (Sample size=546)

	All	10-19 y.o.	20-29 y.o.	30-39 y.o.
Think so	6%	7%	5%	5%
Think so a little	11%	11%	9%	14%
Don’t really think so	17%	18%	20%	14%
Don’t think so at all	63%	60%	62%	66%
Don’t know	3%	4%	4%	1%

Q5: What Japanese politician do you rate the highest? (Sample size=546, free answer)

Rank	日本語	Name	Percentage
1	小泉前首相	Junichiro Koizumi, ex-Prime Minister	18%
2	麻生外相	Taro Aso, Foreign Secretary	5%
3	石原慎太郎東京都知事	Shintaro Ishihara, Tokyo Governer	3%
4	東国原英夫宮崎県知事	Hideo Higashikokubaru, Miyazaki Governer	2%
4	安倍首相	Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister	2%
6	菅民主党代表代行	Naoto Kan, DPJ representitive	2%
7	田中蝕子元外相	Makiko Tanaka, former Foreign Minister	1%
7	伊藤博文	Hirobumi Ito, first, 5th, 7th and 8th Prime Minister	1%
7	田中角栄元首相	Kakuei Tanaka, 64th and 65th Prime Minister	1%
7	小沢民主党代表	Ichiro Ozawa, DPJ representitive	1%

Now a change of pace, as we move into the summer heat.

Q5: Do you get “Natsu-bate” (summer heat fatigue) during the summer? (Sample size=546)

	All	10-19 y.o.	20-29 y.o.	30-39 y.o.
Yes	67%	66%	71%	65%
No	33%	34%	29%	35%

Q6: Do you take any measures during the summer heat? (Sample size=546)

Yes (to SQ)	27%
No	73%

Q6SQ: What sort of measures do you take during the summer heat? (Sample size=146, multiple answer)

Eat nutritious food	64%
Don’t spend too long in cold air conditioning	61%
Get enough sleep	55%
Take exercise to nourish my body	43%
Eat hot food, drink hot drinks	30%
Slowly and carefully enter the bathtub	28%
Don’t eat or drink too fast	26%
Other	8%
Don’t know	1%

Q7: When summer comes, what do you particularly want to drink? (Sample size=546, multiple answer)

Barley tea	50%
Carbonated drinks	41%
Sports drinks	33%
Beer, beer-like drinks	26%
Mineral water	19%
Other teas	17%
Fruit juices, fruit drinks	13%
Chuhai (fruity alco-pops)	9%
Tomato or other vegetable juices	5%
Other alcohol	4%
Other	4%
Nothing in particular	6%
Don’t know	0%