世論 What Japan Thinks

A rather spicy title for a rather bland survey, I’m afraid! I could only find something borderline silly for today, a survey by goo Ranking into what people didn’t do before they were fully-fledged members of society. In Japan this normally means once someone finishes full-time education and with an additional implication of entering full-time employment.

Demographics

Between the 25th and 28th of July 2008 1,072 members of the goo Research online monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.3% of the sample were male, 5.7% in their teens, 14.4% in their twenties, 31,0% in their thirties, 28.1% in their forties, 10.5% in their fifties, and 10.4% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

I only managed about six myself before I started working, with going abroad being one notable one I didn’t do until I was twenty-four, with a business trip to New Orleans being my first overseas experience.

5=, using a taxi ticket, is for people working past the last train home, allowing them to charge the fare to the company. 12, the formal receipt, is for claiming back expenses. Don’t be too surprised at number 8, as there are a lot of older people in the survey who finished school before computers became widespread there.

Research results

Q: What didn’t you do before you were a fully-fledged member of society? (Sample size=1,072)

Rank		Score
1	Used a credit card	100
2	Got a loan	83.3
3	Flew business class	81.7
4	Went abroad	80.1
5=	Used a taxi ticket	74.9
5=	Lived by myself	74.9
7	Flew on a plane	69.9
8	Used a computer	65.7
9	Ate at a posh restaurant	64.3
10	Got invited to a wedding	53.4
11	Used a system diary (Filofax, etc)	51.0
12	Got a formal receipt	48.2
13	Spent a long time with someone from a different generation	41.4
14	Drank at home by myself	40.6
15	Participated in a go-con (dating party)	39.4
16	Subscribed to a newspaper	35.3
17	Carried a point card, member’s card	35.3
18	Wore a suit	33.7
19	Wore make-up	30.9
20	Dated someone	29.9
21	Ate standing at a fast food restaurant	23.5
22	Drunk alcohol	23.3
23	Made friends with someone from a different prefecture	18.7
24	Wore leather shoes	17.1
25	Sent a present to my family	16.1
26	Bought a train, bus season ticket	15.7
27	Slept riding a train	13.1
28	Had someone use polite language when talking to me	11.8
29	Rode a boat	9.6
30	Used polite language	8.4