世論 What Japan Thinks

With graduation season just finished in Japan, here’s a look with goo Ranking at people’s memories, both the sad ones for men and women and the happy ones for men and women.

Demographics

Over the 22nd and 23rd of February 2010 1,123 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.6% of the sample were female, 9.6% in their teens, 22.2% in their twenties, 32.1% in their thirties, 24.9% in their forties, 7.5% in their fifties, and 3.8% 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.

Although the URL uses “happy” and most of the Q2 incidents seem happy to me, the actual question used “bitter-sweet”, for a reason I’m not really to sure about!

I don’t really remember anything in particular about my university graduation day, but looking at the list of event below I think they are more talking about school graduation, I think. We didn’t have any of that graduation nonsense when I was in school – the last day of school on the final year was pretty much like the last day every other year.

Research results

Q1: What regrets do you have about your graduation day? (Sample size=465, male)

Rank		Score
1	I wasn’t really moved	100
2	No-one asked me for my second-top button	54.8
3	I got dumped on my graduation day	12.0
4	I couldn’t say thanks to everyone properly	10.8
5	I couldn’t attend due to illness, injury, etc	10.2
6=	A girl I fancied refused to have her photo taken with me	7.8
6=	When my name was read out at the ceremony I replied	7.8
8=	I didn’t get the second-top button from a girl I fancied	7.2
8=	When they called out “Non-graduates dismissed!” I stood up	7.2
10	They got my name wrong at the graduation ceremony	5.4

Q1: What regrets do you have about your graduation day? (Sample size=658, female)

Rank		Score
1	I wasn’t really moved	100
2	I didn’t get the second-top button from a guy I fancied	31.0
3	I cried so much snot ran out of my nose	17.3
4	I got dumped on my graduation day	10.2
5	No-one asked me for my second-top button	9.6
6	I had hayfever and couldn’t stop sneezing, my runny nose	9.6
7	They got my name wrong at the graduation ceremony	9.1
7=	I couldn’t attend due to illness, injury, etc	9.1
9	When my name was read out at the ceremony I replied	8.1
10	I was late	7.1

Q2: What bitter-sweet memories do you have of your graduation day? (Sample size=465, male)

Rank		Score
1	Everyone wrote comments in my graduation album	100
2	I got my photo taken with a girl I fancied	75.6
3	After the ceremony finished I hung around the school for a long time	74.4
4	A junior from a club I participated in wrote a comment in my graduation album	65.4
5=	A junior declared her love for me	60.3
5=	After the ceremony finished there was a party in a classroom	60.3
7=	I cried all the way through the ceremony	56.4
7=	Everybody wrote a message on the class blackboard	56.4
9=	I declared my love for someone I always fancied	52.6
9=	We buried a time capsule	52.6
11	Someone I always fancied declared her love for me	50.0
12	Our teacher cried more than the pupils	48.7
13	I wrote a message to my teacher in my graduation album	41.0
14	I got the second-top button from someone I fancied	26.9
15	I got the second-top button from someone and got all weepy	23.1
16	I cried when our teacher read us a message	19.2
17	I cried when an always-strict guidance counselor teacher read us a message	17.9
18=	I cried while reading a message to club juniors	16.7
18=	I cried when club juniors read us a message	16.7
18=	I sent a present to my teacher	16.7

Q2: What bitter-sweet memories do you have of your graduation day? (Sample size=658, female)

Rank		Score
1	I cried all the way through the ceremony	100
2	I got the second-top button from someone I fancied	99.4
3	Everyone wrote comments in my graduation album	92.1
4	I got my photo taken with a guy I fancied	79.7
5	After the ceremony finished I hung around the school for a long time	57.1
6	After the ceremony finished there was a party in a classroom	51.4
7	A junior from a club I participated in wrote a comment in my graduation album	48.0
8	Our teacher cried more than the pupils	39.5
9	I declared my love for someone I always fancied	39.0
10	I cried when our teacher read us a message	36.2
11	We buried a time capsule	35.6
12	Everybody wrote a message on the class blackboard	35.0
13	I sent a present to my teacher	27.7
14	I wrote a message to my teacher in my graduation album	27.1
15	I got my photo taken with a teacher I liked	24.9
16	I got the second-top button from someone I didn’t expect	18.1
17=	Someone I always fancied declared his love for me	17.5
17=	I cried when an always-strict guidance counselor teacher read us a message	17.5
19	I cried when club juniors read us a message	16.9
20	A junior declared his love for me	11.3