世論 What Japan Thinks

This interesting recent report from Nippon Research Council, conducted in conjunction with Gallop Korea, looked into the degree of interest in environmental issues in South Korea and Japan.

Demographics

For Japan, between the 7th and 19th of November 2007 1,200 people were selected at random, weighted by region, from a database of households, and were interviewed both face to face and had questionnaires left to fill in. 50.4% of the sample were female, and the ages were distributed between 15 and 79 years old. For South Korea, between the 12th and 26th of June 2008 1,510 people were selected at random, weighted by region, sex and age, and were interviewed face to face. 50.6% of the sample were female, and the ages of those sampled were 19 or older.

I wish I knew more about South Korea to know how best to interpret the results. For instance, in Q2 only 5% of Koreans recycling their bathwater for use by their washing machines, but is this due to showering being more popular in Korea? Similarly, in Q1SQ Koreans are much more aware of fresh water pollution. Why?

Research results

Q1: How interested are you in environmental issues? (Sample size=1,200 and 1,510)

	Japan N=1,200	Korea N=1,510
Extremely interested (to SQ)	24.4%	24.1%
Quite interested (to SQ)	56.8%	64.4%
Not very interested	15.0%	10.8%
Not interested at all	3.0%	0.7%
Don’t know	0.8%	0.0%

Q1SQ: What kinds of environmental issues are you interested in? (Sample size=975 and 1,337, multiple answer)

	Japan N=975	Korea N=1,337
Global warming	87.1%	61.8%
Exceptional weather	56.2%	23.3%
Ozone layer destruction	28.6%	23.1%
Recycling	27.9%	12.3%
Deforestation	18.9%	7.5%
Air pollution	18.7%	34.2%
Rubbish disposal	18.3%	51.8%
Sea pollution	9.1%	6.6%
Water pollution	9.0%	46.1%
Chemicals	6.2%	9.5%

Q2: To protect the environment, what sorts of things do you make an effort to do? (Sample size=1,200 and 1,510, multiple answer)

	Japan N=1,200	Korea N=1,510
Recycling, rubbish separation	60.8%	69.6%
Take care not to leave the tap running	59.8%	69.1%
Don’t throw used food oil down the drain	41.3%	26.3%
Set heater to 20 degrees, cooler to 28 degrees	40.6%	36.8%
Use left-over bathwater for washing clothes	40.6%	5.2%
Don’t leave the television on all the time	39.4%	52.3%
Try to reduce rubbish	36.8%	64.8%
Refuse bags at the check-out	33.9%	25.2%
Unplug electrical items when not in use	33.8%	31.0%
Don’t overwrap shopping	33.1%	18.3%
Don’t idle the car, hard brake and accelerate	31.6%	22.8%
Pay attention to heated toilet seat settings	22.3%	5.6%

Q3A: (Japan) What companies do you think are addressing environmental issues? (Sample size=1,200 and 1,510, up to three free answers)

Toyota	34.1%
Honda	8.0%
Panasonic	6.7%
Nissan	4.8%
Aeon Group (supermarket)	4.8%
Japan Tobacco	3.6%
Sharp	3.5%
Hitatchi	2.5%
Tokyo Electricity Power Company (TEPCO)	1.9%
Sony	1.5%

Q3B: (Korea) What companies do you think are addressing environmental issues? (Sample size=1,510, up to three free answers)

Yuhan-Kimberly (toilet paper)	17.7%
Samsung	8.9%
LG (Lucky Goldstar)	4.4%
Hyundai	2.6%
Pulmuone (foods)	2.1%
SK (multinational conglomerate)	1.8%
Posco (steel)	1.4%