世論 What Japan Thinks

For this week’s lighter look at opinions, goo Ranking investigated what makes people feel are men’s status symbols, for both men and women.

Demographics

Between the 24th and 26th of September 2008 1,044 members of the goo Research online monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.6% of the sample were male, 5.8% in their teens, 12.7% in their twenties, 32.3% in their thirties, 27.6% in their forties, 12.3% in their fifties, and 9.3% 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.

The car being number one should be no suprise to anyone, but I’m surprised with a watch being so high, higher than tailored suits, but perhaps that reflects a conservatism in Japanese dress.

My car is a train, I work in computers, my degree’s from a university probably no-one in Japan’s heard of, and my watch cost 10,000 ANA air miles. From the women’s list, I can only claim to have 7 and 8 as marks of status!

Ranking result

Q: What do you feel is a man’s status symbol? (Sample size=528, men)

Rank		Score
1	Car	100
2	Qualifications, licences	81.1
3	Field of work	79.9
4	Educational history	72.0
5	Watch	69.5
6	Shops he frequents	63.4
7	Suits	56.7
8	Where he lives	48.8
9	Shoes	38.4
10	Kind, grade of credit card	37.2
11	Beautiful wife, girlfriend	36.0
12	Welcome at shops he uses	27.4
13	Circles he participates in	26.8
14	Home furnishing	26.2
15	Handsome physique	25.6
16	Physical strength	24.4
17	Digital gadgets	19.5
18	Writing implements	17.1
19	Location of office	15.2
20	Quality of collections	12.2

Q: What do you feel is a man’s status symbol? (Sample size=516, women)

Rank		Score
1	Car	100
2	Field of work	96.4
3	Educational history	84.9
4	Watch	61.6
5	Qualifications, licences	52.3
6	Suits	43.7
7	Beautiful wife, girlfriend	39.4
8	Where he lives	38.4
9	Shoes	34.1
10	Shops he frequents	31.2
11	Physical strength	24.7
12	Kind, grade of credit card	23.7
13	Handsome physique	20.8
14	Famous people he knows	18.6
15	Location of office	15.4
16	Home furnishing	15.1
17	Golf club, etc membership	14.3
18	Number of women he knows	13.6
19	Circles he participates in	13.6
20	Welcome at shops he uses	12.9