世論 What Japan Thinks

This recent survey from MyVoice into environmental issues, their second time of conducting it, with the first time being here, found that positive action was quite low.

Demographics

Over the first five days of March 2009 15,563 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, 36% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 19% aged fifty or older.

MOTTAINAI is the Japanese word that approximately translates to “what a waste”.

Here is a public service advertisement about refusing a plastic bag that gets broadcast quite often even at prime time:

I find it quite depressing that such a small step is reckoned to be so difficult for people to understand or carry out that it bears repeating so often even at prime time, when there are a hundred and one other just as simple and more effective steps that they could be talking about, and there are another hundred and one more important messages that a public service advertisement could address.

Oh, and don’t get me started on the people who once saw a program somewhere that showed how at that point in time separated rubbish all got burnt together, therefore they don’t need to bother doing it themselves.

Research results

Q1: Do you know the MOTTAINAI campaign? (Sample size=15,563)

	This survey March 2009	Previous survey August 2006
Know the details	14.5%	19.4%
Heard about it	54.4%	44.3%
Don’t know it	31.1%	36.%

Q2: Do you know the first African woman to win the Nobel peace prize, Wangari Maathai? (Sample size=15,563)

	This survey March 2009	Previous survey August 2006
Know what activities she does	14.3%	15.9%
Don’t know the details of her activities, but I’ve seen, heard of her	42.2%	38.3%
Don’t know her	43.2%	45.5%
No answer	0.3%	0.3%

Q3: Which of the following aspects of the MOTTAINAI campaign do you know about? (Sample size=those who know of the MOTTAINAI campaign, multiple answer)

Wangari Maathai visited Japan in 2005, empathised with “mottainai”, starting the activities	56.7%
Objectives are to promote the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) for a society that effectively uses natural resources	48.9%
Wangari Maathai uses MOTTAINAI as an international keyword to express the 3Rs throughout the world	25.0%
Artists supporting the campaign promote activities through songs, events, blogs, etc	14.7%
Part of the profits from products with the MOTTAINAI label contribute towards green belt activities	12.0%
There are MOTTAINAI fleamarkets, etc	7.6%
The MOTTAINAI web site carries related information, has click-based donations, etc	6.1%
None of the above	18.4%
No answer	3.0%

Q4: Where do you find out about MOTTAINAI campaign activities? (Sample size=those who know of the MOTTAINAI campaign, multiple answer)

Read about it in newspapers, television, magazines, other media	39.0%
Read about it on official web site	5.6%
Donated money	2.5%
Own MOTTAINAI products	2.0%
Participated in an event	1.2%
Other	2.4%
No particular activities	50.0%
No answer	4.7%

Q5: Where have you seen these MOTTAINAI campaign logos? (Sample size=15,563, multiple answer)

Web sites	7.5%
Newspapers	6.9%
Television	6.5%
Magazines	3.4%
Products	2.6%
At store-front	2.0%
At event	1.3%
Other	1.1%
Never seen it before	79.4%

Q6: Out of respect for the environment, which of the following do you carry out within your daily life? (Sample size=15,563, multiple answer)

Separate rubbish, use recycled paper, etc	69.0%
Don’t buy, make more than needed	53.7%
Save energy, resources	45.9%
Try to avoid items that will soon be thrown away	40.8%
Use second-hand, hand-me-down items	33.6%
Effectively use stuff for something else once they cannot be used for their original purpose	19.0%
Get broken stuff fixed	18.9%
Proactively purchase eco products	15.9%
Don’t own a car	11.0%
Rent items	10.4%
Raise awareness in young people, children	9.7%
Carry my own chopsticks with me	6.7%
Contribute financially	5.6%
Participate in volunteer activities	3.6%
Participate in lectures, study events, etc	2.0%
Participate in eco-tourism	0.7%
Other	2.8%
Nothing in particular	8.4%
No answer	0.1%

Q7: There are moves towards adding carbon footprint labelling on products; would you want to buy products from companies that introduced such a system? (Sample size=15,563, multiple answer)

Want to proactively purchase	8.4%
May want to buy	42.0%
Can’t say either way	45.3%
Don’t really want to buy	2.3%
Don’t want to buy at all	3.5%
No answer	0.4%