世論 What Japan Thinks

Yahoo! Value Insight recently published the results of their look into your 2009 and 2010.

Demographics

Between the 2nd and 4th of December 2009 1,000 members of the Yahoo! Value Insight monitor panel. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, 17.6% in their twenties, 22.1% in their thirties, 19.3% in their forties, 20.9% in their fifties, and 20.1% in their sixties.

My kanji to sum up my year from a work perspective would probably be 鬱, which I’ll leave you to look up. My in vogue items would be masks (not me personally, though) and limited edition snacks – this year it’s not just millions of Kit-Kat flavours, but just about every brand has been pumping out a new limited edition every month. This month alone I’ve bought the following limited editions: milk coffee and sparkling strawberry Kit-Kats, berry Pocky, two different kinds of strawberry Takenoko no Sato, strawberry Pie no Mori, and two other winter chocolates.

Research results

Q1: Select a single kanji character that expresses how you felt about 2009. (Sample size=1,000, free answer)

Rank	Kanji	Meaning	Percentage
1	変	Unusual, change, strange	9.1%
2	苦	Suffering, hardship	5.4%
3	忙	Busy	4.5%
4	忍	Endure, sneak	3.2%
5	耐	-proof, enduring	2.6%
6	貧	Poor	2.4%
7	幸	Happiness	1.9%
8	減	Decrease	1.8%
9=	動	Move	1.7%
9=	無	Nothingness	1.7%
11=	疲	Exhausted	1.5%
11=	病	Ill	1.5%
11=	平	Even, peace	1.5%
11=	乱	Disorder	1.5%
15	激	Violent, excited	1.4%
16	楽	Music, ease	1.3%
17=	暗	Dark	1.2%
17=	代	Substitute, replace	1.2%
17=	不	Negative, non-	1.2%
20=	改	Reformation, renew	1.1%
20=	新	New	1.1%

Q2: What were the in vogue items, things for you and those around you in 2009? (Sample size=1,000, multiple free answer)

Rank		Percentage
1	Government cash handout	56.0%
2	1,000 yen tolls	54.1%
3	Influenza goods (masks, disinfectant gel, etc)	50.6%
4	Change of government	45.8%
5	Budget screening – eliminating wasteful government spending	33.8%
6	Kodomo Tencho (Child Shop Manager)	30.0%
7	Samurai Japan (WBC baseball team)	29.3%
8	Eco Point television	26.8%
9	Eco car tax break	25.2%
10	Prius (Toyota), Insight (Honda) hybrid cars	22.6%
11	Herbivore boys	21.4%
12	Silver Week	21.0%
13	Home Appliance entertainers	19.8%
14	Marriage hunting	19.0%
15	Private brand (own brand) products	17.6%
16	Obama buzz	17.1%
17	Quarter-pounder McDonalds	15.1%
18	I-RO-HA-SU (eco bottled water from Coca Cola)	14.4%
19	Dragon Quest 9	13.5%
20	Kirin Free alcohol free beer-taste drink	13.0%
21	iPhone 3GS	12.3%
22	1Q84	11.2%
23=	Highball	11.1%
23=	Ashura exhibition	11.1%
25	g.u. 990 yen jeans	10.1%
26	Eating out alone	9.6%
27	Jogging, running	9.3%
28	Funwari bread	9.2%
29	Lotte Fit’s gum	9.0%
30	Bento boys (men making their own packed lunch for work)	8.9%

Looking at the breakdown of some of the items by sex and age, Herbivore Boys were most popular with women in their twenties, and at 45.3% almost double the next highest demographic. Marriage hunting was similarly significantly higher for the same age group.

Q3: What do you think will be the in vogue items, things for you and those around you for 2010? (Sample size=1,000, multiple free answer)

Rank		Percentage
1	Cheap terrestrial digital-ready television	84.0%
2	1,000 yen tolls	82.0%
3	Hybrid cars	78.7%
4	Eco car tax break	77.3%
5	Eco point television	76.5%
6	Private brand (own brand) products	74.1%
7	Cheap notebook computers	72.8%
8	Vancouver Olympics	71.1%
9	South Africa World Cup	67.5%
10	Electric cars	56.0%
11	Marriage hunting	51.8%
12	Cheap holidays, shopping trips to Korea	50.9%
13	Sakamoto Ryoma	50.4%
14	Smartphones	49.5%
15	Small SLRs (Micro 4 size)	48.5%
16	Jogging, running	48.4%
17	Fuel cell mobile batteries	47.8%
18	OLED television	46.0%
19	Fast Fashion (cheap and disposable)	45.1%
20	Fashion magazines with extravagent appendices	44.8%
21	IENAKA consumers (home lovers)	44.6%
22	Bento boys	41.8%
23	Farming boom (Nou-gals, small tractors)	40.9%
24	Electric scooter	39.6%
25	Eating out alone	39.0%
26	Herbivore boys	38.5%
27	3D television	36.1%
28	Electronic books	34.9%
29	New genre of men’s hair setting goods	33.4%
30	Brainwave toys	32.8%

Q4: How will your expenditure on the following change in 2010? (Sample size=1,000)

	Increase	Decrease
Saving for the future	63.2%	36.8%
Quality time with family	53.5%	46.5%
Travel	37.7%	62.3%
Quality time with friends	37.6%	62.4%
Hobbies	35.9%	64.1%
Food and drink	27.1%	72.9%
Study, other self-improvement	22.6%	77.4%
Sports, exercise	22.1%	77.9%
Fashion	19.1%	80.9%

More women were planning on increasing spending than men in just about all the categories except hobbies and exercise.