世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s a quick but fun survey from goo Ranking for your Sunday enjoyment; what did you feel uncomfortable about after starting your very first job after graduation.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of March 2008 1,036 people from the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.7% were male, 7.0% in their teens, 14.7% in their twenties, 30.1% in their thirties, 27.0% in their forties, 10.9% in their fifties, and 10.2% aged sixty or over. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample. Only the single people were asked today’s questions.

When I started in a Japanese company because I knew so little of the language and the customs everything felt strange! Perhaps oddest was getting a uniform; not just a jacket, but also official trousers made out of extremely itchy nylon and cut to Japanese shapes. I lasted 5 minutes in them before I consigned them to the back of the wardrobe.

Ranking results

Q: What did you feel uncomfortable about when you first started working after graduation? (Sample size=1,036)

Rank		Score
1	Solicitation for insurance, etc	100
2	The stuff I learnt at school, university was not needed	86.5
3	Differences from the description of work responsibilities before I entered the company	75.0
4	Company-designated bank account created for me	60.4
5	Company-specific terminology	52.4
6	Lots of application forms	47.9
7	Company future plans were extremely sketchy	45.5
8	Took time to adjust to work	43.4
9	Old computers	41.3
10	Lots of telephone calls	37.8
11	Frequent company events	36.5
12	Sexual discrimination, “woman’s work”	35.8
13	Information sharing mostly paper-based	35.1
14	No economising on photocopying, printing	34.4
15	Lunch costs (team lunches, etc)	31.6
16	Was handed resposibility just after entering the company	29.2
17	At lunchtime sales come visiting	28.1
18	Lot of IT illiteracy	21.5
19	Couldn’t use internet freely	19.4
20	Company uniform	18.4