世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s another fun pair of ranking surveys – this time it’s a look at what the under thirties want to do before they reach thirty and what the over thirties wish they had done before they were thirty. The fieldwork was carried out between the 20th and 24th of July 2007.

For me, the big thing I wished I’d done by thirty was worked abroad; I did get an opportunity to go to work in Paris for at least six months when I was about 27 or so, but I thought of too many excuses as to why I shouldn’t or couldn’t take up the offer. Regretting turning that down was one of the reasons I jumped at the chance of coming to Japan, in fact. Finding a local was also something I suppose I would have liked to have done, but I’d probably have turned into a horrendous alcoholic had I managed!

Ranking results

Q: What do you want to do before you reach thirty?

Rank	Goal	Score
1	Save money	100
2	Go on a long holiday	56.7
3	Fall seriously in love	56.1
4	Get married	56.1
5	Get qualifications	51.9
6	Increase number of same-sex friends	50.3
7	Build up body strength	48.7
8	Become good mannered	47.1
9	Go on a solo trip	44.9
10	Show filial piety	44.9
11	Put effort into housework	44.4
12	Increase number of opposite-sex friends	43.9
13	Wise up regarding money, insurance	38.5
14	Be able to use a foreign language	38.0
15	Live on my own	32.6
16	Make a life plan	32.1
17	Find a hobby I can really get into	31.6
18	Find a regular pub, etc, that I can go to even on my own	26.7
19	Have children	26.2
20	Lose weight	25.7
21	Get into the habit of exercising	20.9
22	Find a role model	19.3
23	Find my motto	19.3
24	Study overseas	17.6
25	Start investments in shares, trusts, etc	15.5
26	Buy a flat, house	15.5
27	Attend university, business school	15.0
28	Switch jobs	11.2
29	Break into the entertainment world	7.5
30	Start my own business	7.5

Q: What do you wish you had done before you reached thirty?

Rank	Goal	Score
1	Save money	100
2	Go on a long holiday	67.3
3	Get qualifications	62.1
4	Fall seriously in love	61.1
5	Get married	60.2
6	Be able to use a foreign language	52.4
7	Go on a solo trip	40.6
8	Build up body strength	38.9
9	Increase number of same-sex friends	37.9
10	Go on a trip with parents	37.9
11	Increase number of opposite-sex friends	35.0
12	Become good mannered	33.7
13	Wise up regarding money, insurance	32.3
14	Put effort into housework	32.1
15	Live on my own	31.5
16	Study overseas	29.8
17	Find a hobby I can really get into	28.8
18	Have children	27.5
19	Make a life plan	24.8
20	Lose weight	21.3
21	Get into the habit of exercising	20.9
22	Start investments in shares, trusts, etc	20.9
23	Find a regular pub, etc, that I can go to even on my own	20.7
24	Find a role model	17.4
25	Buy a flat, house	16.8
26	Find my motto	14.5
27	Attend university, business school	13.0
28	Start my own business	10.6
29	Switch jobs	9.7
30	Go on a working holiday	8.7