世論 What Japan Thinks

With just a few days to go before the end of November, which means that for residents of Japan planning to send 年賀状, nengajou, New Year Cards for the Year of the Rat, this weekend is your last chance to get a discount for early orders. To see what the Japanese are planning to do this year, goo Research, in conjunction with the Yomiuri Shimbun, performed a survey on New Year Postcards. It may be instructive to look at last year’s survey on New Year Postcards to see how opinions have changed over the last year.

Demographics

Unfortunately little demographic information was reported, bar that the fieldwork was conducted towards the end of October, with 1,082 successful responses received.

For those of you in the USA, or in fact Japan, as they do ship internationally, wanting your own custom New Year cards (or Christmas cards, or any other occasion, may I recommend TinyPrints as a high-quality supplier of personalised stationery, with many card designs starting from just over a dollar per card. Note if you choose to order, enter the code WINTER07 for a 5% discount, expiring on the first of February 2008.

We’ll personally be ordering about 80 cards from 55 station this weekend, and even though the coming year is the Year of the Rat we’ll give Mickey Mouse a miss, instead getting a mix of Hello Kitty and Rilakkuma photo cards. Printing the address on the back of the cards will however be done ourselves at home. Although ordering cards seems expensive up front compared to home printing, once you budget for printer ink, losses due to paper jams, and other required user effort, it’s actually quite reasonable, and the print quality is considerably higher than a standard home ink jet.

Note that in Q1SQ1, the 8% who said they won’t print their New Year Postcards includes those buying pre-printed cards and writing addresses by hand, and those who handmake their own cards.

Research results

Q1: How many New Year Postcards do you plan to send this year? (Sample size=1,082)

Less than 20	22%
20 to 49	24%
50 to 99	21%
100 to 149	10%
150 to 199	5%
200 or more	5%
None at all (to Q2)	13%

Q1A: How many New Year Postcards do you plan to send this year? (Sample size=1,082, by age group)

	Under 20	20-49	50-99	100-149	150-199	200 or more	None
Teens	47%	19%	4%	2%	0%	1%	27%
Twenties	44%	21%	11%	3%	0%	0%	21%
Thirties	16%	33%	23%	11%	2%	2%	13%
Forties	15%	27%	25%	11%	5%	6%	11%
Fifties	8%	24%	33%	13%	7%	7%	8%
Sixty or older	13%	20%	26%	15%	10%	10%	5%

Q1SQ1: How do you plan to get them printed? (Sample size=939)

Order printing (including photo print) (to Q1SQ2)	8%
Print at home	82
Won’t print	8%
Other	0%
Not decided yet	2%

Q1SQ2: Where do you plan to get them printed? (Sample size=72)

Local photo studio	25%
Local photo printer, stationery shop	25%
Convenience store	21%
Internet	18%
Post office	1%
Other	10%

Q2: Did you know that from this year the Post Office is offering New Year Postcard printing services? (Sample size=1,082)

Yes	33%
No	67%