世論 What Japan Thinks

I’ve once or twice seen dodgy street stalls in Den-Den Town (Osaka’s Akihabara) selling copies of popular business software titles, so to see how the Japanese might purchase such goods of dubious provenance this survey from JR Tokai Express Research Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com on piracy reveals some answers.

Demographics

On the 22nd of June 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Research monitor group employed in private industry successfully completed a private intret-based questionnaire. 77.6% of the sample were male, 9.1% were in their twenties, 40.6% in their thirties, 41.2% in their forties, and 9.1% in their fifties.

There’s actually a couple of problems with this survey – first Q1 asks if one has ever bought pirate media; how many were reporting purchases before they had broadband? I know when I had an Atari ST and a 1200/75 modem, I was regular visitor to The Barras. Second, by choosing a sample of people with internet access, they often have the ability to download stuff for free (or even paying, as the survey focussed on physical product) rather than paying for a tangible fake. And of course, there’s a certain percentage who would not admit their use of such contents.

Oh, and in Q1SQ1, pirate vinyl? Never heard of such a thing, although I wonder if that includes laser disk?

Research results

Q1: Have you ever bought pirate media? (Sample size=330)

Yes (to SQs)	9.1%
No	82.4%
Don’t know	3.0%
Don’t know what pirate media is	5.5%

Q1SQ1: What kinds of pirate media have you bought? (Sample size=30, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Computer software	10	33.3%
CD	9	30.0%
DVD	9	30.0%
Record	5	16.7%
Video	3	10.0%
Games software, hardware	0	0.0%
Book, photo collection	0	0.0%
Other	2	6.7%

Note that since this is physical contents that is being investigated, books refers to printed works, not ebooks.

Q1SQ2: Where did you buy your pirate media from? (Sample size=30, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Internet auction	8	26.7%
Shop	7	23.3%
Street stall	6	20.0%
Friends	3	10.0%
Web page	1	3.3%
Bulletin board, email, etc	1	3.3%
Other	6	20.0%

In addition, exactly half said they have bought contents aware that they were pirated.

When everyone was asked about their opinions regarding piracy, the most common view was that there should be more strict penalties. However another popular opinion was that the price of genuine products was high, so if they were more affordable people would be less prone to obtain stolen goods.