世論 What Japan Thinks

Japan could do with more slow lifestyles and slow food, as the impression I get in my working life is that I myself barely get any time to breath, so I don’t know how my colleagues who are in the office far longer than I cope. To find out how the average person felt about their leisure or lack thereof, MyVoice performed a survey about lifestyles.

Demographics

Over the first five days of August 2007 12,308 members of the MyVoice online community successfully completed an online survey. 54% of the sample was female, 2% in their teens, 17% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 27% in their forties, and 15% in their fifties.

For the sake of this survey, Slow Life was explained as “even if it is inconvenient, live the natural life for yourself surrounded by nature”; Fast Life was “even if it takes money, live a luxurious and convenient life with all the city benefits in a gadget-rich environment”.

I’d love to see the breakdown of the answers in Q2 by type of employment. I feel I have little room to spare for me alone (although we have enough time as a couple) but I don’t know how my colleagues feel. I suspect (or worry) that they are resigned to week-days being written off, and the image of Japanese salarymen is that at weekends they more often than not do their own thing golfing, fishing, gambling or whatever.

Research results

Q1: Which set of ideals do you agree with, Slow Life or Fast Life? (Sample size=12,308)

Strongly agree with the Slow Life ideals	10.5%
Tend to agree with the Slow Life ideals	51.8%
Tend to agree with the Fast Life ideals	33.0%
Strongly agree with the Fast Life ideals	4.6%

Q2: In your everyday life, do you have “time to breath”, time you can use freely doing your own thing? (Sample size=12,308)

Think I have enough time to breathe	13.7%
Think I have some time to breathe	32.1%
Can’t say either way	19.4%
Don’t think I have much time to breathe	28.5%
Don’t think I have any time to breathe	6.3%

Q3: In your everyday life, do you have financial “room to breath”, money you can use freely on your own thing? (Sample size=12,308)

Think I have enough room to breathe	2.6%
Think I have some room to breathe	21.6%
Can’t say either way	24.6%
Don’t think I have much room to breathe	35.1%
Don’t think I have any room to breathe	16.1%

Q4: To what degree do you think you have the necessary knowledge and information in order to improve your lifestyle? (Sample size=12,308)

Think I have enough knowledge and information	3.4%
Think I have some knowledge and information	34.2%
Can’t say either way	40.5%
Don’t think I have much knowledge and information	19.9%
Don’t think I have any knowledge and information	2.0%

Q5: How much of a human network do you have? (Sample size=12,308)

Think I have a quite a wide network	2.5%
Think I have a not-so-wide network	18.1%
Can’t say either way	27.6%
Think I have a quite small network	33.0%
Think I have a very small network	18.8%

Q6: In order to improve your lifestyle, which of the following points are important? (Sample size=12,308, up to three answers)

Have room in my heart	59.2%
Pay more attention to health, physical strength	39.4%
Hold family relationships dear	38.1%
Proactively gather knowledge and information	30.8%
Hold my human network dear	28.4%
Hold my own free time dear	26.6%
Be a doer	18.2%
Get into hobbies	15.4%
Hold my friends dear	14.2%
Just take a little more time	13.6%
Put sufficient effort into things	13.4%
Just spend a little more time	6.3%
Be focused on work	4.6%
None of the above	2.2%