世論 What Japan Thinks

To make up for my short off-line period, here’s an excellent survey from goo Ranking, looking at what over the top urban legends people would want to learn more about.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 26th of April 2010 1,187 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-base questionnaire. 61.4% of the sample were female, 10.1% in their teens, 17.4% in their twenties, 30.9% in their thirties, 24.9% in their forties, 10.1% in their fifties, and 6.5% 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.

Number 4 is one I’d like to hear about, as I cannot really imagine what might be hidden by the marathon! For number 6, I think I’ve heard somewhere about Paul McCartney having a Japanese nanny. If any of my readers have heard more about the rumours, or if you want me to investigate more myself, please drop me a line!

Ranking result

Q: What over the top urban legends would you want to hear more about? (Sample size=1,187)

Rank		Score
1	The hidden pyramid on Japanese paper money	100
2	The horrible secret behind Where’s Wally	97.4
3	A big horror movie is actually a true story	97.1
4	The state secret behind the Tokyo Marathon	85.3
5	The real reason why taxi drivers ask you if you’ve not forgotten anything	82.4
6	A member of America’s biggest rock band was brought up by a Japanese housekeeper	78.0
7	The reason why your ring finger is used for rings	75.8
8	Ultraman’s mysterious last episode	73.6
9	The mastermind behind a worldwide catastrophe	71.8
10	The sinister scheme Momotaro was involved in	67.8
11	The mysterious power of 3	67.0
12	The true identity of the man behind the first Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu	63.7
13	The true identity of aliens	63.4
14	The cover-up of America’s giant weapon	57.9
15	The corporate logo that distributes luck	55.3
16	The man who spurned movie offers from Ken Takakura, Ken Watanabe, Takeshi Kitano	54.6
17	The Devil’s omen	52.4
18	The theory of the separate evolution of men and women	52.0
19	The actress who manipulates spirits	50.5
20	The secret hidden in a 20 dollar bill	49.8
21	The Devil’s 6 minutes	49.5
22	The secret hidden in airline toilet seats	47.3
23	The curious coincidences of things adding up to 18	46.2
24	The secret hidden in a 1 dollar bill	45.1
25	The shocking history hidden in place names	44.3
26	The broadcast world’s rule formed from a rumour	43.6
27	The message hidden in Planet of the Apes	43.2
28=	The scary story about septic tank toilets	41.4
28=	Bob Dylan actually grew up in Japan	41.4
30	The enigma of the OK sign	40.3