世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s a bit of a strange one from goo Ranking, looking at what men found embarrassing when they were in middle school (12 to 15 years old), but now wouldn’t bother them. There was a link to a female version of the survey, but it didn’t work.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 24th of July 2009 1,026 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 48.2% of the sample were male, 8.0% in their teens, 14.6% in their twenties, 28.8% in their thirties, 26.0% in their forties, 12.5% in their fifties, and 10.1% 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. Note that today’s question is for the men only.

Using a cubicle is a strange one – it’s not (only?) a fear of dirty toilets or other personal issues, but apparently students get very heavily teased for going for a number two, and some schools do worry about the state of their charges’ intestines, as I once saw a program where a school got rid of all their urinals and replaced them with cubicles only, thus no-one could tell which you were doing.

Ranking results

Q: What things that wouldn’t bother you these days did you find embarrassing in middle school? (Sample size=495, male)

Rank		Score
1	Using a cubicle in the school toilets	100
2	Talking in front of a large group	60.1
3	Talking to girls	57.7
4	Having people find out I fancy someone	51.9
5	Being seen doing activities with my family	41.8
6	Speaking up for myself	37.5
7	Folk dancing	35.1
8	Singing solo	30.3
9	Eating in front of someone I fancy	28.4
10	Having a buzz cut	26.9
11	Calling parents mother, father	23.6
12	Urine test	23.1
13	Wearing clothes my mother bought	19.7
14	Reading aloud from a text book	17.8
15	Getting weight, height taken	15.9
16=	Parent and child meeting with teacher	14.9
16=	Swimming lessons	14.9
18	Wearing a helmet when riding a bicycle	13.0
19=	Writing on the blackboard in front of people	12.5
19=	Wearing glasses for the first time in front of someone	12.5
21	Parents answering a call from friends	12.0
22	Gym lessons	11.5
23	Wearing clothes other than school uniform	9.6
24=	Mother’s home-made lunch box	9.1
24=	Tucking my shirt into my trousers	9.1
24=	Having a bag stuffed with books	9.1
24=	Eating by myself	9.1
28	Apparatus, mat exercises	8.7
29	Wearing gym kit	7.7
30	Listening to traditional Japanese music	4.8