世論 What Japan Thinks

From today, normal service will be resumed at 世論 What Japan Thinks after the New Year holidays. So, without further ado, let’s look at the first Silly Sunday survey of the New Year; here goo Ranking looked at break-up reasons people just couldn’t get their heads around, covering both what men hear from their girlfriends and what women heard from their boyfriends.

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.

I’ll not relate any personal stories here, but I did once fix up a mate with a friend of my wife’s (thankfully she doesn’t speak English so she won’t be reading this blog!) but he suddenly chickened out, so we had to tell her that he had been transferred, which always struck me as a hopelessly transparent excuse

Ranking results

Q: Even though your girlfriend said it, what reason for breaking up could you not comprehend? (Sample size=1,101)

Rank	Reason	Score
1	“The stars say we were not meant to be”	100
2	“Just because…”	83.7
3	“My parents are opposed”	79.2
4	“I don’t want to come to hate you”	59.4
5	“Because you dropped me from your friends list on an SNS (Social Networking Service)”	57.4
6	“I’ve had enough of you”	54.5
7	“I tried going out with you, but I didn’t get to like you”	54.0
8	“You didn’t get on with my other female friends”	53.0
9	“I don’t like your face”	50.5
10	“I’m concentrating on my job right now”	50.0
11	“I’m concentrating on my hobby right now”	50.0
12	“Your personality doesn’t suit mine”	47.0
13	“You never gave me any presents”	44.1
14	“I’ve moved house”	42.6
15	“You don’t reply to my emails”	42.6
16	“You can’t do any housework”	38.1
17	“Your money sense doesn’t suit mine”	33.2
18	“I’ve changed jobs”	33.2
19	“You’re dull to be with”	31.7
20	“I’ve met someone else”	31.2
21	“Your conversation is boring”	31.2
22	“I don’t want to be tied down”	29.2
23	“I’ve got no money”	26.7
24	“I don’t have time to go out with you”	24.8
25	“You can’t keep things in order”	21.8
26	“I feel you’ve got nothing to offer me”	20.8
27	“You’ve got no money”	19.8
28	“The hours you keep don’t suit me”	19.3
29	“Your hobbies don’t suit me”	18.3
30	“You leave a rather different impression on me compared to before we went out”	18.3

Q: Even though your boyfriend said it, what reason for breaking up could you not comprehend? (Sample size=1,101)

Rank	Reason	Score
1	“The stars say we were not meant to be”	100
2	“My parents are opposed”	77.3
3	“Just because…”	69.8
4	“You didn’t get on with my other female friends”	59.4
5	“I don’t want to come to hate you”	52.3
6	“Because you dropped me from your friends list on an SNS (Social Networking Service)”	50.3
7	“I’m concentrating on my hobby right now”	46.8
8	“You don’t reply to my emails”	46.8
9	“I’ve moved house”	46.4
10	“I’ve changed jobs”	43.5
11	“I’m concentrating on my job right now”	42.9
12	“You’ve got no money”	39.0
13	“I tried going out with you, but I didn’t get to like you”	38.6
14	“I don’t like your face”	36.7
15	“I’ve had enough of you”	36.4
16	“I’ve got no money”	32.1
17	“You never gave me any presents”	30.2
18	“I don’t have time to go out with you”	23.7
19	“You’re dull to be with”	23.4
20	“You can’t do any housework”	22.7
21	“Your money sense doesn’t suit mine”	21.8
22	“I’ve met someone else”	21.8
23	“I feel you’ve got nothing to offer me”	21.1
24	“I can’t see you ever being my marriage partner”	19.5
25	“You leave a rather different impression on me compared to before we went out”	19.2
26	“I don’t want to be tied down”	19.2
27	“Your personality doesn’t suit mine”	19.2
28	“The hours you keep don’t suit me”	16.9
29	“Your conversation is boring”	16.6
30	“You can’t keep things in order”	15.6