世論 What Japan Thinks

Back in Scotland I had a bike which I rode rain or shine to work and generally thrashed about on at weekends. In Japan, though, I fancied buying a bike, but parking seemed a pain, and the nearest open road seemed far, far away. To see what the average Japanese thinks, MyVoice performed a survey into this subject of motorcycles.

Demographics

Over the first five days of April 2008 14,860 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online survey. 54% of the sample was female, 1% in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 38% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 17% in their fifties.

Ahh, I could talk for hours about the motorcycles I have owned and ridden! My last bike was a BMW, always a nice thing to mention in Japan as the brand cachet is strong, despite the rather more staid UK image, perhaps related to the relative rarity of the bike in Japan. My Beemer was actually a made under licence single-cylinder off-road styled F650 with the rather un-macho name of Funduro painted in an even more un-macho shade of peachy-orange. I’m sure there was a good reason why I chose that colour, but it escapes me.

Research results

Q1: What classes of motorcycle do you own? (Sample size=14,860, multiple answer)

Motorised bicycle (includes scooters up to 125 cc) (to SQ1)	9.4%
Small bike (50 cc to 125 cc) (to SQ1)	2.9%
Medium bike (125 cc to 400 cc) (to SQ1)	1.7%
Large bike (over 400 cc) (to SQ1)	1.1%
None (to SQ2)	86.7%

Q1SQ1: For what purposes do you use your bike? (Sample size=bike owners, multiple answer)

Going to work, school	39.3%
Shopping	35.2%
To cheer myself up	21.6%
Touring	20.1%
Fill spare time	13.5%
When roads are crowded	10.6%
When I have stuff I want to move	8.8%
When public transport is not operating	8.3%
Going on holiday	7.6%
Dates	3.0%
Visiting friends, family	2.6%
Interior decoration	1.4%
Other	9.2%
Have a bike but don’t ride it	13.2%
No answer	4.2%

Q1SQ2: Why don’t you have a bike? (Sample size=non bike owners, multiple answer)

Don’t feel it’s needed	35.2%
Seems dangerous	32.9%
Difficult to use on rainy, snowy days	20.4%
Don’t have a licence	18.2%
Can use a car instead	16.6%
Takes money to maintain	10.2%
Difficult to carry luggage	9.7%
Used to have one, but got rid of it	9.1%
Can use a bicycle instead	8.4%
Seat is too tall	7.1%
Don’t want to wear a helmet	7.1%
Can’t carry many people	6.7%
Worried about theft, vandalism	6.5%
Had no opportunity	6.0%
Difficult to park	5.5%
Noisy	5.4%
Bothersome to maintain	4.8%
Petrol is expensive	3.9%
Friends, family are opposed	3.8%
No air-conditioning	3.2%
Currently investigating buying one	0.9%
Not cool, old-fashioned	0.8%
No designs I like	0.6%
No bike with features I could be satisfied with	0.5%
Other	2.5%
No particular reason	13.5%
No answer	3.7%

Q2: Do you plan to buy a bike? (Sample size=14,860)

Plan to buy within a year	1.4%
Plan to buy more than a year later	0.6%
No time-frame, but plan to buy sometime	4.0%
No concrete plans, but if I had a reason or found one I liked I’d look into it	5.8%
No plans, but interested	17.1%
No plans and not interested	71.1%

Q3: If you were to buy a bike, which maker would you choose? (Sample size=14,860)

Honda	26.6%
Yamaha	11.0%
Kawasaki	4.4%
Suzuki	2.7%
Harley-Davidson	2.3%
BMW	1.2%
Ducati	0.9%
Peugeot	0.5%
Piaggio	0.2%
Other	0.5%
Don’t know	48.8%
No answer	0.9%

Q4: If you were to buy a bike, how would you obtain information about makers, bike types, features, etc? (Sample size=14,860, multiple answer)

Look at the actual machine in a bike shop	29.8%
Maker’s web site	28.1%
Ask bike shop staff	24.0%
Ask friends, family	18.4%
Bike magazine	17.6%
Bike comparison web site, blog	17.3%
Maker’s pamphlet	12.1%
Other web page	8.3%
Look at the actual machine in a used bike shop	6.7%
Ask used bike shop staff	4.5%
Ordinary magazine, book	4.4%
Television	1.6%
Other	0.8%
Don’t know	33.8%
No answer	0.5%

Q5: What colour of bike do you like? (Sample size=14,860)

Black	17.7%
Silver, metallic	10.4%
Red	8.5%
Wine red	6.0%
Blue	4.6%
White	3.6%
Dark blue	3.1%
Green (darker)	1.6%
Orange	1.5%
Pink	1.4%
Green (lighter)	1.3%
Turquoise	1.3%
Yellow	0.9%
Brown	0.6%
Gold	0.5%
Purple	0.5%
Other	1.1%
Not bothered about colour	35.0%
No answer	0.5%

Q6A: Which famous person would suit a bike? (Sample size=6,836, male, free answer)

Rank		Votes
1	Koichi Iwaki	1,114
2	Hiroshi Go	531
3	George Tokoro	308
4	Hiroshi Fujioka	113
5	Takuya Kimura	97
6	Eikichi Yazawa	79
7	Kamen Rider	59
8	Arnold Schwarzenegger	57
9=	Takashi Sorimachi	56
9=	Katsunori Takahashi	56
11	Steve McQueen	53
12	Yusaku Matsuda	40
13	Ryudo Uzaki	31
14	Masaharu Fukuyama	28
15	Tom Cruise	26
16=	Tetsuya Watari	23
16=	George Takahasi	23
18=	Yuji Oda	22
18=	Masahiko Kondo	22
20	Shinji Takeda	20

Q6B: Which famous person would suit a bike? (Sample size=8,024, female, free answer)

Rank		Votes
1	Koichi Iwaki	1588
2	Hiroshi Go	358
3	George Tokoro	285
4	Takuya Kimura	250
5	Takashi Sorimachi	171
6	Katsunori Takahashi	135
7	Reiko Takashima	110
8	Masaharu Fukuyama	97
9	Tomoya Nagase	60
10	Shun Oguri	57
11	Eikichi Yazawa	56
12	Joe Odagiri	55
13	George Takahasi	51
14	Kenji Sakaguchi	49
15=	Hiroshi Fujioka	46
15=	Kamen Rider	46
17	Masahiko Kondo	42
18	Arnold Schwarzenegger	39
19	Puffy	38
20	Yosuke Eguchi	37

It’s interesting that the men chose all men rather than mix in a few women who might look good in leather! Even the women only manage to choose three of their gender.