世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s one of these silly surveys, from goo Ranking of course, that is either interesting or incomprehensible, or both… The subject was in what situations were people just putting on an act, for both men and women.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 26th of January 2009 1,071 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 51.8% of the sample were male, 6.9% in their teens, 14.3% in their twenties, 28.9% in their thirties, 27.8% in their forties, 11.3% in their fifties, and 10.8% 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’m useless at acting, so I’ve got into trouble for at least the first three for men, and as for pretending to be drunk, it’s far easier to just be drunk.

Does anyone understand what saying one’s full up on a first date really means? I could understand for men if it was just to get out of having to order and pay for another course, but it’s higher ranked for women.
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I’m more of an SD card person myself, so I’ve never actually owned a USB thumb device, but this recent survey repotred on by japan.internet.com and conducted by goo Research into said USB memory found that I am very much in the minority in Japan.

Demographics

Between the 25th of February and the 3rd of March 2009 1,075 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.0% of the sample were male, 16.3% in their teens, 18.3% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 11.9% aged sixty or older.

Talking of USB memory, if you have more than you can plug into your PC at one time, Strapya has a R2D2 and Darth Vader USB hub!

I read last month about an interesting (for “interesting” read “useless”) USB memory-centred security system for PCs from NTT; they encrypt the hard drive, then select random parts of the encrypted files to write out to USB memory, the theory being that the PC without the USB memory or vice versa is useless. However, I cannot actually think of valid threats that this defends against, unless the memory dongle has a wired or wireless tether, and if there’s a tether you don’t need the writing to USB memory, and all it does is introduce another point of failure, especially as a detached USB drive is easy to lose.

I can guess that it’s patented, as sadly that seems the major driver behind many developments at my employer at least.
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With almost every day bringing more bad news of how the economic situation at both home and abroad is deteriorating, this recent survey from DIMSDRIVE Research into the economy is most timely.

Demographics

Between the 28th or January and the 11th of February 2009 10,233 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.2% of the sample were male, 1.0% in their teens, 12.5% in their twenties, 33.2% in their thirties, 29.9% in thri forties, 16.1% in their fifties, and 7.3% in their sixties. By occupation, 35.2% were full-time regular employees, 19.4% housewives, 11.3% part-time or casual, 7.6% unemployed, 6.9% self-employed, 6.1% contract workers or temps, 3.6% civil servants, 2.8% students, 2.6% freelance, 2.2% senior management or board-level, 0.9% other governmental organisation employees, and 1.4% in other jobs.

We’ve had major changes at the office due to our sales falling off a cliff. Overtime has been cut (this actually is a good thing, IMO), bonuses cut too due to a complex link between overtime and bonuses, management-level pay and expense account cuts, etc, etc. However, the best thing they could do is to address Warm Biz and Cool Biz as more than just a slogan and actually put some effort into ensuring that the air conditioning runs efficiently. How are you doing?

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Read more on: dimsdrive research,economy,recession

I’m not sure if the phrasing in the story title is familiar to many, but in the UK where Harlequin novels are called Mills and Boon, the popular generic term for such style of romantic novels is the bodice-ripper. Anyway, that title serves to give away the results of a survey conducted by iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com into mobile phone novels.

Demographics

On the 2nd of March 2008 300 female members of the Research Plus monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 25.0% of the sample were in their twenties, 49.0% in their thirties, and 26.0% in their forties.

I’ve never read a mobile phone novel or even a novel on a mobile phone for that matter, although when I last translated a similar survey I mentioned that there are many readers for reading books on most types of mobiles, but like many other things I talk about I’ve never quite had time to try it out!
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Read more on: book,ibridge research plus

It’s been a while since I’ve looked at the console market in Japan, so I’m glad to have the chance to present the rather surprising results of a survey conducted by RealWorld RealResearch and reported on by japan.internet.com into home gaming consoles, a survey explicitly excluding portable devices.

Demographics

Over the 4th and 5th of March 2009 1,040 members of the RealWorld RealResearch monitor pool completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.9% of the sample were male, 5.1% in their teens, 17.9% in their twenties, 22.3% in their thirties, 22.7% in their forties, 16.3% in their fifties, and 15.7% aged sixty or older.

I keep saying “I have to get a Wii!” every time I cover consoles, yet I never get round to actually parting with the cash, so without any further ado:

I have to get a Wii!

It feels a bit odd to refer to the Wii, Playstation 3 and Xbox360 as “next generation” even after about two years on the market, but that’s what the survey uses so I’ll use it too.
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Read more on: playstation 3,RealWorld RealResearch,wii,xbox360

I’m afraid this is one of these surveys that sounded interesting but turned out to be rather dull, so I’ve tried to liven it up with a nice picture of a lunch-box by Sakuraoko Kitsa on flickr. The survey itself was on lunch and conducted by MyVoice.

Demographics

Over the first five days of February 2009 15,158 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 1% in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 37% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 18% aged fifty or older.

Unfortunately, comparing now with a year ago didn’t really reveal any new information, thus my disappointment at this survey.

There seems to be a rash of bento lunch box sites popping up these days, so if you fancy trying to make your own, I can recommend Adventures in Bentomaking as a fun place to visit!
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Read more on: lunch,myvoice

In these tough economic times, one way of saving money is to collect coupons, so this recent survey from Point On Research and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at this very topic of mobile phone coupons.

Demographics

Over the 1st and 2nd of March 2009 exactly 1,000 mobile phone-using members of the Point On monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was split exactly 50:50 male and female, and 20.0% in their teens, 20.0% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, and 50.0% in their fifties.

Just at the weekend, and just in time for this survey, I got two mobile coupons, one for 100 yen off a doughnut and coffee set at Mister Donuts, and the other for a free men’s bath salts from the rather feminine chain of pricey bric-a-brac Afternoon Tea.

I’m not aware of any of the coupon sites mentioned in the last question, but that might be a good topic for Nihon Hacks or Frugalista Japan to investigate.
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Two sillynesses for the price of one today, with the second dose also from goo Ranking, looking at the moment one realises that two people at the office were an item, for both men and women.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 26th of January 2009 1,071 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 51.8% of the sample were male, 6.9% in their teens, 14.3% in their twenties, 28.9% in their thirties, 27.8% in their forties, 11.3% in their fifties, and 10.8% 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’ve not been in this situation in Japan, but it did happen once at a previous employer when I realised that one person was giving the other a lift home every night, yet they both lived in opposite directions. I actually ended up following their car one night.

Indeed, considering how closely everyone works and socialises, people keep their love life very close to their chests; it is not uncommon for someone in the office to suddenly announce being not just engaged, but actually married.

Photo from jasoneppink on flickr.
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Read more on: gender,goo ranking,love,work

Continuing my occasional theme of FAIL, this time it is a look at what White Day present-related regrets women have, courtesy as usual of goo Ranking.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 26th of January 2009 1,071 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 51.8% of the sample were male, 6.9% in their teens, 14.3% in their twenties, 28.9% in their thirties, 27.8% in their forties, 11.3% in their fifties, and 10.8% 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. This question was for the women only.

In Japan, on Valentine’s Day women give men chocolates or other gifts, and on White Day, the 14th of March, men return the favour. This list of FAILs seem to be more from the obligatory gift-giving side, where women give male co-workers something on Valentine’s Day, then they return a no-strings-attached (in theory…) gift on White Day. The day is also an excuse for men to declare their secret infatuation, with answers like 7 and 8 coming from such experiences, one suspects.
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Read more on: fail,goo ranking,white day

This is a rather interesting set of results from a survey conducted by MyVoice into the matter of music, where music is understood to be the playback of recorded media for personal consumption, as concerts or musicals do not feature in the answers, and background music in shops is also explicitly excluded.

Demographics

Over the first five days of February 2009 15,247 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 37% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 18% aged fifty or older.

My active music listening is limited to musicals, on stage and on screen – I enjoyed Mamma Mia the film, but not as much as the stage. I can forgive Pierce Brosnan’s rather flat singing but he needed a shave, The Winner Takes It All was about twice as long as it needed to be, and the reworking of the stage story just didn’t click with me.

From the survey, putting Q2 and Q6 together one can perhaps conclude that a lot of people are ripping rental CDs to their PC, an activity that is, I believe, actually legal in Japan.
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Read more on: music,myvoice