世論 What Japan Thinks

Today’s silliness is from goo Ranking as usual, this time looking at what surprises people have when encountering after many a year female friends from middle school. The surprises for both men and women were ranked. I’ll be sure to report on the old school male friends whenever it appears.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 25th of March 2010 1,128 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.5% of the sample were female, 15.1% in their teens, 16.9% in their twenties, 28.8% in their thirties, 21.1% in their forties, 9.4% in their fifties, and 8.7% 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.

I don’t think I’ve ever really had a surprise from meeting old school friends of either sex, but I suppose I don’t really make much attempt to keep in contact, whereas in Japan keeping track of your ex-classmates appears to be the norm.

Ranking result

Q: What surprises have you had encountering after many a year female friends from middle school? (Sample size=558, male)

Rank		Score
1	She’s married with children	100
2	She’s wearing makeup and looking lovely	73.5
3	She’s become all flashy	69.6
4	She used to be cute, but now she’s unexpectedly plain	57.8
5	She used to be silent, but she’s now all outgoing	51.0
6	She’s already divorced	49.0
7	She’s married	46.1
8	She used to be slim, but she’s fat now	36.3
9	She used to be fat, but she’s slim now	35.3
10	She’s just the same as she was in middle school	34.3
11	She’s changed from glasses to contact lenses, and turned into a beauty	24.5
12=	She’s in show business, modelling	21.6
12=	She’s dressed in an individual style	21.6
14	She’s started her own business	19.6
15	She’s married into money	17.6
16	She’s grown out of being a gal and tidied herself up	16.7
17	She’s making a successful career for herself	13.7
18	She’s got an individual hobby	12.7
19	She used to play around all the time, but has become a career woman	11.8
20	She married her boyfriend from middle school	10.8

Q: What surprises have you had encountering after many a year female friends from middle school? (Sample size=570, female)

Rank		Score
1=	She’s wearing makeup and looking lovely	100
1=	She’s become all flashy	100
3	She’s married with children	96.3
4	She used to be slim, but she’s fat now	87.7
5	She used to be fat, but she’s slim now	77.8
6	She used to be silent, but she’s now all outgoing	66.7
7	She’s already divorced	65.4
8	She used to be cute, but now she’s unexpectedly plain	61.7
9	She’s just the same as she was in middle school	45.7
10	She’s married	43.2
11	She’s dressed in an individual style	34.6
12	She’s started her own business	30.9
13	She’s married into money	28.4
14	She’s grown out of being a gal and tidied herself up	27.2
15	She’s in show business, modelling	25.9
16	She used to play around all the time, but has become a career woman	24.7
17	She’s changed from glasses to contact lenses, and turned into a beauty	23.5
18=	She married her boyfriend from middle school	17.3
18=	She’s got an individual hobby	17.3
18=	She’s making a successful career for herself	17.3