世論 What Japan Thinks

The twin topics of this recent pair of surveys from goo Ranking was what women think they cannot get men to understand and what men find difficult to understand about women.

Demographics

Between the 18th and 2nd of February 2009 1,076 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 51.1% of the sample were male, 7.2% in their teens, 15.8% in their twenties, 29.4% in their thirties, 25.2% in their forties, 11.1% in their fifties, and 11.3% 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.

Listening (or at least pretending to do so!) to women and not being silent, even if it is just a grunt in reply, is one thing that I cannot really get my head around. When I’m annoyed, I just talk to myself just to get it all out, so I don’t understand why they can’t just do the same!

I used to wonder about why my wife used so much toilet paper, but I recently saw a program that suggested both male and female Japanese roll up about five to ten metres of the stuff whereas I was taught to use just five to eight sheets, fold the top over once or twice, and off you go. I wonder how washlet toilets and the resultant wet bum results in excessive toilet paper usage? We (well, she…) go through almost a roll per day!

Ranking results

Q1: What can’t you get men to understand about women? (Sample size=526, women)

Rank		Score
1=	How long it takes us to go shopping	100
1=	What’s fun about girls’ chat	100
3	The importance of listening to us woman	74.4
4	How much luggage we have	72.9
5	Our sensitivity to cold (cold feet and hands)	71.3
6	Our attachment to cute things	65.9
7	Discussions without conclusions	62.8
8	How many shoes, bags we have	57.4
9	The importance of anniversaries	50.4
10	The importance of make-up	47.3
11	Expressing empathy by saying “I understand!” to other people’s talk	45.7
12	How much money we invest in improving ourselves	45.0
13	How long we take in the toilet	39.5
14	How close we are to our mothers	36.4
15	How long we take in the bath	35.7
16	How we get wrapped up in dieting	33.3
17	Group activities at work, class	31.0
18	How we feel we want to rely on fortune telling	28.7
19	How discomforting silence is for us	27.1
20	Our high motivation for love	20.9

Q2: What do you find difficult to understand about women? (Sample size=550, men)

Rank		Score
1	Discussions without conclusions	100
2	How many shoes, bags they have	96.3
3	How they feel they want to rely on fortune telling	93.8
4	What’s fun about girls’ chat	91.4
5	Group activities at work, class	85.2
6	How they get wrapped up in dieting	84.0
7	How small their lunch boxes are	82.7
8	How important it is for them to get into trends	75.3
9=	How long it takes them to go shopping	72.8
9=	The importance of anniversaries	72.8
11=	How much luggage they have	65.4
11=	Expressing empathy by saying “I understand!” to other people’s talk	65.4
13	The importance of make-up	59.3
14	Their attachment to cute things	55.6
15	How discomforting silence is for them	49.4
16	How long they take in the bath	48.1
17	How much money they invest in improving ourselves	45.7
18	How long they take in the toilet	42.0
19=	Their sensitivity to cold (cold feet and hands)	39.5
19=	Their high motivation for love	39.5