世論 What Japan Thinks

Not surprisingly, according to this survey conducted by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com on the topic of taking electrical goods to the seaside, very few electrical items survived their salty plunges! Let this survey be a warning for you on your own summer holidays!

Demographics

Between the 15th and 18th of July 2008 1,094 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 10.0% in their teens, 24.9% in their twenties, 21.7% in their thirties, 19.3% in their forties, and 24.1% aged fifty or older.

I’ve never actually been to the beach in Japan; there’s not actually very much sand around the shores, and any place that does have it is more crowded than a rush-hour train. I was at a beach last week, though; two miles of perfect sand, not many more than two dozen people in total, perfect weather. Not unsurprisingly, this wasn’t in Japan!

Research results

First, 1,051 people from the sample had electrical items they’d like to take or have taken on a trip to the seaside. Top choice was 55.6% choosing a mobile phone, then 51.5% choosing a digital camera.

Next, 908 people wanted to take these electrical items as far as the beach itself, and indeed 597 people (65.8% of these 908, or 54.6% of the total sample) had in fact already taken such items to the shoreline.

Now, these 597 people were asked this question.

Q1: Have you ever dropped an electrical items into the sea? (Sample size=597)

Yes (to SQ1)	11.7%
No	88.3%

Q1SQ1: What electrical items have you dropped into the sea? (Sample size=70, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Mobile phone (to SQ2)	33	47.1%
Digital camera	24	34.3%
Video camera	7	10.0%
Radio-cassette, CD-radio-cassette	3	4.3%
Portable audio player	2	2.9%
Notebook computer	1	1.4%
Smartphone	1	1.4%
Radio	1	1.4%
PDA	0	0.0%
Portable televsion	0	0.0%
Portable DVD player	0	0.0%
Portable games machine	0	0.0%
Other	5	7.1%

Q1SQ2: What did you do after you dropped your mobile phone into the sea? (Sample size=33)

Removed the battery and left it to dry	36.4%
Soon turned it on to see how it was	33.3%
Water-resistant, so just left it to dry	6.1%
Left it to dry	6.1%
Removed the battery, washed it in fresh water and left it to dry	6.1%
Dismantled it, washed it in fresh water and left it to dry	3.0%
Dismantled it and left it to dry	0.0%
Didn’t do anything	0.0%
Other	9.1%

Q1SQ3: After doing what you did in Q1SQ2, could you use your mobile phone? (Sample size=33)

Could use all features	15.2%
Could use it, but some features were broken	18.2%
Couldn’t use it	66.7%