世論 What Japan Thinks

This recent survey from goo Research into satisfaction with life overseas found satisfaction levels far higher than my stereotypes of Japanese abroad would suggest.

Demographics

Between the 26th and 28th of May 2010 892 people randomly selected from the members of the goo Research online monitor group who had had experience of living abroad completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 64.8% of the sample were female, 1.9% in their teens, 30.3% in their twenties, 34.3% in their thirties, 21.4% in their forties, 8.3% in their fifties, 3.4% in their sixties, and 0.4% aged seventy or older. However, what constituted living abroad, specifically a minimum time span, was not mentioned.

In Q1, I can understand people being satisfied at getting a larger home than their Japanese dwelling, especially those living abroad on the company’s dime. The overall conveniences perhaps raises an eyebrow, but a majority being satisfied with the food is a surprise. Conversely, 37.7% being uncommital regarding their relationships with their neighbours suggests that people didn’t mix that much.

Research results

Q1: How satisfied were you with the following aspects of overseas life? (Sample size=892)

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Can’t say	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied
Your home	26.3%	35.5%	14.0%	18.9%	5.2%
Conveniences of life	16.5%	39.2%	18.5%	20.2%	5.6%
Food	19.6%	31.6%	14.3%	27.1%	7.3%
Public safety	15.6%	35.4%	23.4%	19.5%	6.1%
Entertainment	18.3%	32.6%	20.6%	21.0%	7.5%
Relationships with the locals	15.6%	31.8%	37.7%	11.9%	3.0%
Communications, media infrastructure	12.3%	33.5%	23.3%	22.0%	8.9%
Medical infrastructure	9.1%	22.4%	35.5%	21.7%	11.2%
Overall satisfaction	18.4%	50.7%	15.2%	13.3%	2.4%

Q2: What concrete dissatisfactions, sources of anxiety do you have about food? (Sample size=892, multiple answer)

Difficult to get hold of Japanese ingredients	43.2%
Ingredients are expensive	23.9%
Few restaurants where I can eat Japanese food	21.6%
Food labels don’t have ingredient lists, nutritional information; are difficult to understand	14.35
Few places to eat out	10.1%
Difficult to get hold of normal ingredients	5.8%
Few places to drink alcohol	1.0%
Other	14.8%
Nothing in particular	25.3%

Q3: What concrete dissatisfactions, sources of anxiety do you have about medical, health and safety? (Sample size=892, multiple answer)

Few hospitals with Japanese doctors	37.9%
Expensive fees	27.2%
Poor health and safety environment	16.3%
Hospitals are far, few	16.0%
Can’t get appropriate treatment when I’m ill	15.2%
High risk from communicatible disease	9.8%
Medicines are expensiv	8.2%
Pharmacies are far, few	5.3%
Other	7.2%
Nothing in particular	30.7%

Q4: What concrete dissatisfactions, sources of anxiety do you have about communications, media? (Sample size=892, multiple answer)

Poor communications infrastructure	33.4%
Poor post, delivery services	28.6%
Obtaining newspapers, magazines, books (expensive, small selection, etc)	15.5%
Poor television, radio environment (reception, program selection, etc)	14.2%
Communication fees are high	13.9%
Other	2.0%
Nothing in particular	40.1%

Q5: Overall, how satisfied were you with life in the country you stayed in?

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Can’t say	Somewhat dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied
Canada N=63	25.4%	58.7%	4.8%	7.9%	3.2%
Germany, France N=50	24.0%	56.0%	12.0%	8.0%	0.0%
UK N=97	13.4%	60.8%	14.4%	7.2%	4.1%
USA N=262	19.8%	53.1%	16.4%	9.2%	1.5%
Australia, other Oceania N=88	19.3%	50.0%	13.6%	15.9%	1.1%
South-East Asia, India, Middle East, other Asia, Africa N=130	19.2%	43.8%	16.9%	17.7%	2.3%
Other Europe N=52	21.2%	40.4%	15.4%	19.2%	3.8%
China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong N=136	11.0%	44.9%	19.1%	21.3%	3.7%