世論 What Japan Thinks

Voice chat fills me with dread, so it’s something I’ve never felt the desire to do, even though I have been invited to some meetings and have also found others with topics that interest me. However, a recent survey reported on by japan.internet.com and conducted by Cross Marketing Inc into this very topic of voice chat produced a slightly unexpectedly high number of user.

Demographics

Over the 23rd and 24th of January 2008 300 members of the Cross Marketing online panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. As usual for Cross Marketing, 50.0% were male and 50.0% female, 20.0% in their teens, 20.0% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, and 20.0% in their fifties.

I went looking for some voice chat pictures to illustrate this story, but instead I found some rather dodgy sites; there’s at least one place selling chat with dodgy-looking anime characters at 1,200 yen (around US$12) per hour, and another charming place that bans foreigners.

Research results

Q1: Have you ever done voice chat? (Sample size=300)

Yes (to SQ1)	26.0%
No (to SQ2)	60.0%
Don’t know about voice chat	14.0%

Q1SQ1: Why do you do voice chat? (Sample size=78, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
For the fun of chatting with people	61	78.2%
To keep in touch	24	30.8%
To discuss, exchange information	14	17.9%
While online gaming	10	12.8%
Meetings	4	5.1%
To learn	0	0.0%
Other	0	0.0%

Q1SQ2: Why haven’t you done voice chat? (Sample size=180, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Don’t have the required equipment	79	43.9%
Don’t think voice chat is necessary	70	38.9%
Feel resistance to talking in real-time	46	25.6%
Don’t have anyone to talk to	44	24.4%
Don’t know how to do it	42	23.3%
Think text chat is enough	33	18.3%
Don’t have anything to talk about	21	11.7%
Other	1	0.6%