世論 What Japan Thinks

Another difficult word to translate into English is モテる, moteru. The dictionary lists translations such as “to be well-liked” and “to be welcomed”, but I feel they don’t really capture the full spirit of the term. There’s also probably a good modern-day slang equivalent of being an It Girl (or Boy), being able to turn guys’ heads and be the envy of your female friends, but I haven’t a clue what it might be. The survey itself uses just “popular” in the URL, so I’ll stick with just that as I introduce this one from goo Ranking into what people want to apply themselves to this year in order to become popular, for both men and women.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 23rd of November 2008 1,083 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.4% of the sample were female, 9.0% in their teens, 15.7% in their twenties, 29.1% in their thirties, 25.5% in their forties, 11.3% in their fifties, and 9.4% 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 suspect the “increasing the number of popular hobbies I have” answer refers to stopping being such of an otaku/nerd/anorak!

Even some men want whiter skin, but curiously getting one’s teeth fixed appears nowhere.

For me, it would have to be stopping being such an anti-social git! Interestingly, being more communicative doesn’t come up as a direct answer, and it’s different from being a good listener or talker.

Ranking result

Q: In order to be more popular with females, what do you want to apply yourself to this year? (Sample size=537, men)

Rank		Score
1	Being a good listener	100
2	Being a good talker	98.9
3	Losing weight	91.0
4	Making investments	85.4
5	気配り上手 Being considerate	77.5
6=	Trying to always have a happy face	46.1
6=	Keeping up with the latest fashions	46.1
8	Learning some manners	39.3
9	Getting skilled at cooking	33.7
10	Increasing the number of popular hobbies I have	32.6
11	Changing jobs	29.2
12=	Keeping my room tidy	28.1
12=	Changing my hairstyle	28.1
14	Getting rid of excess hair	24.7
15	Polishing up my email techniques	23.6
16	Increasing the number of restaurants I know	21.3
17	Buying, upgrading my car	20.2
18	Moving house	7.9
19	Getting a driving licence	6.7
20	Whitening my skin	4.5

Q: In order to be more popular with males, what do you want to apply yourself to this year? (Sample size=546, women)

Rank		Score
1=	Being a good listener	100
1=	Losing weight	100
3	気配り上手 Being considerate	84.9
4	Trying to always have a happy face	75.9
5	Studying make-up techniques	69.9
6	Getting skilled at cooking	67.5
7	Being a good talker	65.7
8	Keeping my room tidy	62.7
9	Whitening my skin	57.8
10	Keeping up with the latest fashions	55.4
11	Changing my hairstyle	54.2
12	Learning some manners	42.8
13	Getting rid of excess hair	41.0
14	Making investments	35.5
15	Polishing up my email techniques	11.4
16	Changing jobs	9.6
17	Increasing the number of restaurants I know	8.4
18	Increasing the number of popular hobbies I have	7.2
19	Moving house	5.4
20	Buying, upgrading my car	4.8