世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s a fun topic for a Sunday evening from the masters of silliness, goo Ranking, looking at the moment after one passed 30 years old when one felt one’s age, for both men and women.

Demographics

Bewteen the 22nd and 25th of January 2008 1,126 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.4% of the sample was female, 3.6% in their teens, 15.8% in their twenties, 35.1% in their thirties, 27.3% in their forties, 11.0% in their fifties, and 7.3% aged sixty or older. Presumably those under thirty were excluded from the sample. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

I personally don’t really worry about feeling my age; there’s not really anything that can be done about it, and brooding over it just makes me feel depressed. If I had to pick an answer, I’d probably say it’s not being able to stay out, or more likely, stay on the computer until 4 am then recover easily, although I think that is partially age and partially married life…

Ranking results

Q: At what moment after passing thirty did you feel your age? (Sample size=men over thirty)

Rank		Score
1	When I ran out of breath after running for the first time for a long while	100
2	When the number of young celebrities that I didn’t know increased	89.0
3	When I found a white hair	87.3
4	When I started being unable to recall lots of people’s names	77.1
5	When I ran out of breath climbing or descending the stairs	60.2
6=	When I put on fat on my back, upper arm, etc	55.9
6=	When I felt injuries were slow to heal	55.9
8	When I thought “the kids today…”	53.4
9=	When I got muscle pain after simple exercise	51.7
9=	When I met a friend of the same age	51.7
9=	When I started getting hangovers drinking the usual amount of alcohol	51.7
12	When I felt my parents were showing their age	48.3
13	When my food preferences changed	39.8
14	When I started getting concerned about the results of health checks	37.3
15=	When I felt myself becoming tearful	35.6
15=	When the amount I ate decreased	35.6
17	When going out at weekends became a bother	34.7
18	When other people called me “old man”	33.1
19	When I started repeating the same conversation many times	28.0
20	When I couldn’t understand young people’s fashion	26.3
21	When I could sing the songs on a Golden Oldies show	23.7
22=	When I let out a grunt as I shood up	22.0
22=	When I found crow’s feet around my eyes	22.0
24	When I started to think every little ache and pain might be the sign of a major illness	21.2
25	When the number of visits to the hospital increased	20.3
26	When I got interested in health programs or health books	18.6
27	When I started waking up earlier than I thought	17.8
28	When I started wearing sensible clothes, got a sensible hair cut	15.3
29	When my skin stopped repelling water in the shower	9.3
30	When I lied about my age	7.6

Q: At what moment after passing thirty did you feel your age? (Sample size=women over thirty)

Rank		Score
1	When I found a white hair	100
2	When the number of young celebrities that I didn’t know increased	88.2
3	When I ran out of breath after running for the first time for a long while	75.4
4	When I started being unable to recall lots of people’s names	75.4
5	When I put on fat on my back, upper arm, etc	69.2
6	When I felt my parents were showing their age	68.7
7	When I thought “the kids today…”	67.3
8	When I felt injuries were slow to heal	64.0
9	When I ran out of breath climbing or descending the stairs	60.2
10	When I found crow’s feet around my eyes	59.2
11	When I got muscle pain after simple exercise	49.3
12	When going out at weekends became a bother	45.0
13	When I couldn’t understand young people’s fashion	43.1
14=	When I could sing the songs on a Golden Oldies show	40.3
14=	When my food preferences changed	40.3
16	When I felt myself becoming tearful	37.9
17	When other people called me “old woman”	34.6
18=	When I started wearing sensible clothes, got a sensible hair cut	31.8
18=	When I met a friend of the same age	31.8
20	When I started getting hangovers drinking the usual amount of alcohol	29.4
21	When I let out a grunt as I shood up	27.0
22	When I started repeating the same conversation many times	26.1
23	When I started to think every little ache and pain might be the sign of a major illness	25.6
24	When the amount I ate decreased	23.2
25	When I started getting concerned about the results of health checks	22.7
26	When I got interested in health programs or health books	19.9
27	When my skin stopped repelling water in the shower	19.4
28	When I lied about my age	15.2
29	When the number of visits to the hospital increased	14.2
30	When I began to want to ask young people how old they were	11.4