世論 What Japan Thinks

A recent survey from iShare looked into the distance between men and women in relationships. The title is not very exciting, but as is often the case for iShare, the questions and results were both thought-provoking.

Demographics

Between the 18th and 23rd of March 2010 901 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.8% of the sample were male, 29.6% in their twenties, 33.2% in their thirties, and 37.2% in their forties.

For me, I’d be level 3 for Q1, L4 for Q2, L5 for Q3 and Q4, L3 for Q5 and L4 for Q6.

I’d like to say that women should drive on daates as I do get a bit fed up not being able to look at the scenery!

Research results

First off, there is a relationship level that the first few questions used. These are:

Level 5	I like them enough to have a relationship
Level 4	There’s a chance something may develop
Level 3	We’re just good friends
Level 2	I neither like nor dislike them
Level 1	I just don’t really know

Q1: From what level of liking someone of the opposite sex would you go out for a meal with them? (Sample size=901)

	All	Male N=512	Female N=389
Level 5	2.6%	2.1%	3.1%
Level 4	10.0%	9.2%	11.1%
Level 3	61.6%	56.4%	68.4%
Level 2	21.2%	27.0%	13.6%
Level 1	4.7%	5.3%	3.9%

Q2: From what level of liking someone of the opposite sex would you go out to the movies with them? (Sample size=901)

	All	Male N=512	Female N=389
Level 5	5.8%	4.5%	7.5%
Level 4	23.2%	21.5%	25.4%
Level 3	54.6%	53.9%	55.5%
Level 2	12.2%	15.2%	8.2%
Level 1	4.2%	4.9%	3.3%

Q3: From what level of liking someone of the opposite sex would you hold hands with them? (Sample size=901)

	All	Male N=512	Female N=389
Level 5	39.8%	30.9%	51.7%
Level 4	35.6%	39.5%	30.6%
Level 3	16.9%	19.1%	13.9%
Level 2	3.6%	5.5%	1.0%
Level 1	4.1%	5.1%	2.8%

Q4: From what level of liking someone of the opposite sex would you kiss them? (Sample size=901)

	All	Male N=512	Female N=389
Level 5	66.1%	55.9%	79.7%
Level 4	21.3%	27.1%	13.6%
Level 3	5.9%	8.6%	2.3%
Level 2	2.0%	3.1%	0.5%
Level 1	4.7%	5.3%	3.9%

Q5: From what level of liking someone of the opposite sex would you go out for a short drive with them? (Sample size=901)

	All	Male N=512	Female N=389
Level 5	12.9%	9.8%	17.0%
Level 4	31.4%	26.6%	37.8%
Level 3	44.5%	48.8%	38.8%
Level 2	7.2%	10.0%	3.6%
Level 1	4.0%	4.9%	2.8%

Q6: From what level of liking someone of the opposite sex would you go out for a long drive with them? (Sample size=901)

	All	Male N=512	Female N=389
Level 5	31.0%	24.4%	39.6%
Level 4	30.3%	31.1%	29.3%
Level 3	32.6%	26.2%	30.3%
Level 2	4.8%	7.2%	1.5%
Level 1	4.1%	4.7%	3.3%

Q7: Would you yourself ask someone of the opposite sex with whom you might start a relationship with to do one of the following actions? The actions are: going out to eat, going to the cinema, going for a short or long drive, going to your or her place, going on a trip, holding hands, hugging, kissing. (Sample size=901)

	All	Male N=512	Female N=389
Yes (to SQ)	80.1%	81.8%	77.9%
No	19.9%	18.2%	22.1%

Q7SQ: Which might you ask them to do? (Sample size=722, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=419	Female N=303
Go for a meal	83.2%	81.4%	85.8%
Go to the cinema	63.9%	62.1%	66.3%
Go for a short drive	48.1%	53.0%	41.3%
Hold hands	29.4%	32.9%	24.4%
Go for a long drive	28.5%	33.2%	22.1%
Go to the other person’s home	25.1%	29.4%	19.1%
Invite the other person to your home	25.1%	30.8%	17.2%
Hug	17.7%	20.8%	13.5%
Go on a trip	17.7%	23.9%	9.2%
Kiss	16.3%	21.0%	9.9%

Q8: Do you have a car driving licence? (Sample size=901)

	All	Male N=512	Female N=389
Yes (to SQ)	81.8%	87.7%	74.0%
No	18.2%	12.3%	26.0%

Q8SQ: On a date, who should drive? (Sample size=737)

	All	Male N=449	Female N=288
Me	48.7%	75.5%	10.1%
The other person	31.3%	8.9%	66.3%
Take turns	19.9%	17.6%	23.6%

When men were asked why they would choose to drive, the most popular reasons were that it was only natural, they liked driving, and they wanted to take the lead. Women wanted to take the passenger seat because they didn’t have confidence in their driving, men would get cold if they drove, men look cool driving, they want men to lead, and they want to see the man’s character.