Here’s a ranking survey from goo Ranking, as usual, that I never quite got round to translating when it was published last month, looking at the top thirty curious product ideas in Japan.
Demographics
Between the 23rd and 25th of March 2009 1,043 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 52.2% of the sample were male, 7.8% in their teens, 17.1% in their twenties, 28.2% in their thirties, 24.8% in their forties, 11.4% in their fifties, and 10.7% 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.
Bras for men is not an original idea, as this video demonstrates:
Between the 21st and 24th of April 2009 1,071 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.4% of the sample were female, 9.2% were in their teens, 13.7% in their twenties, 27.5% in their thirties, 27.5% in their forties, 11.7% in their fifties, and 10.4% aged sixty or older.
Number three is quite good, but all the rest seem to be more fitting for a schoolchild; I’d be more inclined to use “my train had a puncture”. Read the rest of this entry »
This month’s regular look at mobile phone upgrade needs (the 46th time it has been conducted) by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com had interesting results regarding two big recent developments in mobile phones, smartphones and high pixel-count cameras.
Demographics
Between the 18th and 22nd of May 2009 exactly 1,000 mobile phone-using members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private intenet-based questionnaire. 52.5% of the sample were female, 2.0% in their teens, 16.7% in their twenties, 33.7% in their thirties, 28.4% in their forties, and 19.2% aged fifty or older.
This summer’s models brings cameras with up to 10 million pixels, which is getting to be overkill, as packing more pixels more densely actually can give worse results as one starts to get interference problems. In addition, without a decent lens you’re not going to be taking very good photographs anyway, and looking at the camera on the linked web page, the big round thing looks just for show as there is another tiny circle inside which looks to be the business end.
The number interested in smartphones is pretty low, but I suspect that they have an image of being foreign market-designed phones that feature few of the essential Japanese functions such as emoji, One-seg television, and smartcards. Up to now only Sharp with their SH-04 and related models have produced that sort of smartphone, but with many domestic manufacturers rushing to Google’s Android, expect to see many fully-functioned domestic smartphones this winter or next spring, assuming the carriers don’t request to the manufacturers that they avoid too much openness. Read the rest of this entry »
Although recently I’ve translated a number of surveys that promised more than they delivered, this time I feel this one, the fourth survey by MyVoice into blogging has a number of interesting revelations.
Demographics
Over the first five days of May 2009 14,823 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 35% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 19% aged fifty or older.
In Q4, it’s interesting that politics isn’t a selectable theme, but given that just 5% blogged about news in general, I wonder how small that would have been.
Regarding Q5, in Japan they are called blog parts, but in the West they are usually widgets or scriptlets. Looking through the above-linked web site I came across this entertaining one:
For Q6, I’ve been to a cake-related blogger event! I’ve also sadly had to turn down two invites to Danny Choo-organised and corporately-sponsored Tokyo CGM Night, although I did see his Dad’s shoe shop right beside the free cake venue, if that counts for anything.
For Q7, I’d have to immodestly answer “somewhere to use my knowledge, information to contribute to society”, although I do have a letting off steam blog hiding in the shadows… What is blogging to you? Read the rest of this entry »
The results of this survey from Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com into mobile phone costs and fees are not really that surprising, especially since a year or so ago companies were ordered to stop their free or one yen phone promotions and allow the consumer to see more clearly the true costs of a free phone.
Demographics
Between the 20th and 22nd of May 2009 300 members of the Marsh monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was 50:50 male and female, 2.3% in their teens, 17.7% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 20.0% in their fifties, and 20.0% aged sixty or older.
To research this story, I popped into a docomo mobile phone shop on the way home. They must have been embarrassed about it, as they only had tiny 8 point type price tags, which showed that all the spring and summer models were between 50,000 and 70,000 yen for the standard spec of 8 megapixel camera, one-seg television, electronic cash and the like. Even three revisions ago’s 18 month old phones were sitting at just under 40,000 yen, so I don’t think I’ll be upgrading my two and a half year old phone just yet!
My basic plan price is reasonable, but the unlimited packet deal at about 4,400 yen per month (on top of 2,000 yen or so basic plan) is just not justified for my current phone. Read the rest of this entry »
For some reason I have acquired about 150 followers on Twitter, so to try to serve them better and to add a new feature to What Japan Thinks, I will be making occasional Tweets of data from surveys that I choose not to translate in full, and from other sources like TV and newspapers. Also, I might post tips and links, but I’ll try to avoid joining in with the banality on all sides.
If you can’t see what all the fuss is about Twitter, don’t worry as I’m using Twitter Tools, which should summarise all my Tweets once a week and auto-post to this blog.
Most university graduates start work in Japan on or around the first of April, so this survey from Macromill Inc interviewed the fresh faces who had been at their companies for just over a month to learn about then new members of society’s opinions.
Demographics
On the 12th and 13th of May 2009 516 members of the Macromill monitor group who were born in 1986 or 1987 and had found a job completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female.
Wow, there’s a lot of very good information in this survey, and I could easily spend the next day or two drawing conclusions! Note in Q3SQ2 the points of dissatisfaction for women, suggesting that even after just a month in the job, gender discrimination is already obvious to them. On the other hand, in Q5 one in eight women plan to quit when they get married, and then another quarter after they have a baby.
In Q7, I hate drinking sessions at work and would probably choose all the reasons listed, except that it’s talking shop all the time that irritates me, not not talking shop as asked! Read the rest of this entry »
This is one of these surveys that might be interesting to see in its entirity, as the taster provided by japan.internet.com of a survey by Marsh Inc into web site viewing habits provided information that without context is difficult to interpret.
Demographics
Between the 2nd and 8th of May 2009 300 members of the Marsh monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, 0.7% were in their teens, 19.3% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 20.0% in their fifties, and 20.0% aged sixty or older.
My wife has about three million bookmarks which make the lethargic at the best of times Internet Explorer really crawl whenever she opens up a new window. I keep my bookmarks reasonably-well categorised into folders, but then again there’s only about a dozen or so sites I regularly visit via bookmarks. Read the rest of this entry »
Looking around the web, about a year ago there was an earlier version of the Buddha Phone released, but now it’s been powered up to be a portable shrine ready to accept your prayers 24 hours a day. At first sight the phone is rather unspectacular:
You might notice the lotus symbol at the top right of the keyboard, the first hint that things may not quite be what they seem. Read the rest of this entry »
This month’s regular look at 
Although recently I’ve translated a number of surveys that promised more than they delivered, this time I feel this one, the fourth survey by MyVoice into 
The results of this survey from Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com into 
Most university graduates start work in Japan on or around the first of April, so this survey from Macromill Inc interviewed the fresh faces who had been at their companies for just over a month to learn about then 
This is one of these surveys that might be interesting to see in its entirity, as the taster provided by japan.internet.com of a survey by Marsh Inc into 
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