世論 What Japan Thinks

This survey from MyVoice is their third home use air conditioner survey. I thought I had translated their second air conditioner survey last year, but it turns out it was from DIMSDRIVE Research instead. And it was more interesting…

Demographics

Over the first five days of September 2008 15,465 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online survey. 54% of the sample were female, 1% in their teeens, 15% in their twenties, 36% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 19% in their fifties.

I looked at the previous survey and I discovered I said just about everything I know about Japanese air conditioners! I do get people searching occasionally for Japanese air conditioner manuals – the functionality is often rather complex and if you can’t read Japanese it’s difficult to know what to do. Now, there’s an idea for a Web 2.0 site – www.rimoconmaster.com (rimocon being the Japanese abbreviation for REMOte CONtroller), upload a photo of your remote (and rice cooker, microwave, etc) with the buttons labeled, or without them labeled and get other users to fill in the functions.

Research results

Q1: When was the last time you bought a home use air conditioner? (Sample size=15,465)

Within the last three months	6.2%
Within the last six months	2.4%
Within the last year	6.2%
Within the last three years	18.3%
Within the last five years	12.0%
More than five years ago	37.2%
Never bought an air conditioner (to Q6)	17.7%

Q2: How much was that air conditioner? (Sample size=air conditioner purchasers)

Under 40,000 yen	5.0%
40,000 to 59,999 yen	12.6%
60,000 to 79,999 yen	13.4%
80,000 to 99,999 yen	13.6%
100,000 to 119,999 yen	10.8%
120,000 to 139,999 yen	5.8%
140,000 to 159,999 yen	5.1%
160,000 to 179,999 yen	3.1%
180,000 to 199,999 yen	2.7%
200,000 yen or more	5.1%
Don’t remember	22.6%
No answer	0.2%

Q3: When buying an air conditioner, which is more important, functions or price? (Sample size=air conditioner purchasers)

Price	16.6%
Perhaps price	27.1%
Both about equal	21.4%
Perhaps functions	25.3%
Functions	9.2%
No answer	0.4%

Q4: When you bought your air conditioner, which manufacturers did you look at? (Sample size=air conditioner purchasers, multiple answer)

Mitsubishi Electrical	27.8%
National (Panasonic)	26.3%
Toshiba	22.0%
Daikin	21.8%
Hitachi	21.2%
Sharp	18.6%
Fujitsu	13.0%
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries	10.4%
Sanyo	8.0%
Corona	4.7%
Other	8.2%
Don’t remember, don’t know	11.1%
No answer	0.1%

Q5: Which manufacturer’s air conditioner did you last purchase? (Sample size=air conditioner purchasers)

Mitsubishi Electrical	14.1%
National (Panasonic)	12.7%
Daikin	10.5%
Toshiba	10.2%
Sharp	8.2%
Hitachi	8.1%
Fujitsu	7.3%
Sanyo	3.9%
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries	3.4%
Corona	2.2%
Other	6.5%
Don’t remember, don’t know	12.3%
No answer	0.6%

Q6: What sort of things do you often do when using your air conditioner’s cooling functions? (Sample size=15,465, multiple answer)

Even when at home, take care to turn on and off	39.6%
Use while sleeping	27.0%
Set to 28°ree;C to protect the environment	24.0%
Change the temperature setting to suit the room temperature	23.9%
Use timer to prevent unnecessary use	22.7%
Use in the bath	17.4%
Only use at daytime on hot days	14.6%
Leave on all the time I’m at home	13.4%
Don’t use during the day, just evenings to night time	12.9%
Try not to use at home except when visitors come	11.8%
Use it to clean the air in the room	8.6%
Leave it running when out	2.8%
None of the above	1.8%
Don’t use an air conditioner	9.8%