世論 What Japan Thinks

I’m not really sure how the pie chart I have extracted from this survey by iShare into body complexes relates to the subject, but I thought it was interesting enough to graph.

Demographics

Between the 3rd and 8th of February 2010 497 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.1% of the sample were male, 31.6% in their twenties, 29.4% in their thirties, and 39.0% in their forties.

I don’t have any complexes, I don’t think, although I used to have a thing about my teeth, but that was a justified complex as they were in a terrible state, so a good few visits to the dentist fixed all that.

I’d love to have seen hair as a separate category, as I think many Japanese men are conditioned by the media to expect to have a full head of black hair well into their middle age. I’m going a bit thin on top and silver in the stubble myself, but it seems to bother my wife more than me!

Research results

Q1: Do you feel reluctant to do something different to most other people? (Sample size=497)

	All	Male N=279	Female N=218
Very reluctant	3.0%	2.9%	3.2%
A little reluctant	49.9%	48.0%	52.3%
Not at all reluctant	47.1%	49.1%	44.5%

Q2: Do you have a complex about one of the following body parts: face/head, back, arms, hands, chest, stomach, bottom, legs, feet? (Sample size=497)

	All	Male N=279	Female N=218
Yes (to SQ1, SQ2)	59.4%	49.8%	72.0%
No (to SQ4)	40.4%	50.2%	28.0%

Q2SQ1: Which of these body parts do have the biggest complex about? (Sample size=296)

	All	Male N=139	Female N=157
Stomach	38.5%	42.4%	35.0%
Face/head	20.9%	22.3%	19.7%
Legs	12.2%	5.0%	18.5%
Back	9.1%	13.7%	5.1%
Feet	7.4%	5.8%	8.9%
Bottom	5.4%	2.2%	8.3%
Chest	4.1%	5.8%	2.5%
Arms	1.4%	0.7%	1.9%
Hands	1.0%	2.2%	0.0%

Q2SQ2: Have you tried to do something to lessen the biggest complex you have? (Sample size=296)

	All	Male N=139	Female N=157
Currently doing so (to SQ3)	17.6%	18.7%	16.6%
Have done so (to SQ3)	43.9%	35.3%	51.6%
Not done so	38.5%	46.0%	31.8%

Q2SQ3: Where did you get your information about lessening your biggest complex? (Sample size=182, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=75	Female N=107
Internet	51.1%	48.0%	53.3%
Television	40.7%	37.3%	43.0%
Magazines	30.2%	20.0%	37.4%
Thought it out myself	24.7%	33.3%	18.7%
From friends	21.4%	16.0%	25.2%
Books	17.0%	9.3%	22.4%
Newspapers	4.4%	2.7%	5.6%
Radio	2.7%	0.0%	4.7%
Other	3.8%	5.3%	2.8%

Q2SQ4: Have you ever had a complex about any of those body parts? (Sample size=201)

	All	Male N=140	Female N=61
Yes	10.9%	8.6%	16.4%
No	89.1%	91.4%	83.6%