世論 What Japan Thinks

Although I mostly pick the silly surveys from goo Ranking, they do occasionally cover serious subjects, with this recent one on expectations for Japan in the future, specifically what people think politicians should be putting some effort into.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of November 2007 1,101 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.7% of the sample was female, 6.2% in their teens, 15.4% in their twenties, 30.2% in their thirties, 27.1% in their forties, 11.0% in their fifties, and 10.3% aged sixty or older. Note that the score reported is the relative number of votes each choice got, not the percentage of the sample that chose each option.

Although the title of the survey page from goo Ranking specifically includes the word politics, number 5 is rather non-political, or if it is meant to be political, Singapore springs to mind as a country that regulates the manners of the citizens, which may not be a very good example to follow. On the other hand, a lot of existing legislation gets ignored as penalties are either minor or non-existant, so perhaps this is a call for more enforcement of smoking in non-smoking zones, switching off mobiles when required, etc?

I think that addressing issues regarding worker abuse (and self-abuse) where unpaid overtime is the norm, by giving some teeth to unions; indeed I’d like to see unions being penalised for not bothering to stand up against unpaid overtime! What would you like to see from the politicians?

Ranking results

Q: What expectations for the future Japan do you have? (Sample size=1,101)

Rank	Expectation	Score
1	A country where old folks can live off their pensions	100
2	A country with good law and order	97.2
3	A country that correctly uses tax revenue	96.9
4	A country with cheap medical fees	82.6
5	A country with good-mannered citizens	76.8
6	A country with high-quality medical care	74.6
7	A country where it is easy to have, bring up children	73.9
8	A country where politicians and bureaucrats do not lie	73.1
9	A country with high-quality education	63.6
10	A country that leads on environmental issues	56.7
11	A country replete in public services	56.7
12	A country with little disparity between rich and poor	55.0
13	A country with perfect responses to natural disasters	51.7
14	A country self-sufficient in food resources	50.3
15	A country with a stress-free working environment	48.3
16	A country with a high educational level	44.9
17	A country with no discrimination between people	42.8
18	A country of strong regions	41.8
19	A country with many free public services	41.4
20	A country where public organizations and private industry correctly disclose information	38.9