世論 What Japan Thinks

A happy New Year to you all, with a look at what is the busiest profession over the New Year, a survey from goo Ranking, of course.

Demographics

Between the 19th and 22nd of November 2010 1,171 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.2% of the sample were female, 11.3% in their teens, 19.1% in their twenties, 29.0% in their thirties, 23.4% in their forties, 9.6% in their fifties, and 7.6% 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’d say 17=, a reporter, is the easiest job over the New Year – if it’s hard news, they can start writing year-end wrap-ups ahead of times; if it’s the latest news, on television at least 90% of it is interviews with people leaving or coming back at airports, bullet train stations, etc, reports of enormous car jams at all the usual motorway locations, and a few bits of stock footage of preparations or the aftermath of New Year at the popular temples. I’m sure they could even run last year’s columns and nobody would notice!

All photos from flickr – click on them to see them in full detail – apologies for some not being terribly seasonal, but it was hard enough to find the right subjects, let alone the locations.

Ranking result

Q: What do you think is the busiest profession over the New Year? (Sample size=1,171)

Rank		Score
1	Post office staff	100
2	Shinto priest, shrine girl	61.2
3	Policeperson	51.7
4	Department store employee	50.2
5	Railway employee	49.7
6	Restaurant staff	44.1
7	Home delivery staff	43.2
8	Hotel, inn staff	36.7
9	Medical professional	23.4
10	Hairdresser	20.9
11	Karaoke box staff	20.6
12	Convenience store employee	20.4
13	Theme park staff	19.6
14	Buddhist priest	19.3
15	Security guard	16.6
16	Computer server facilities management staff	9.7
17=	Printer	8.9
17=	Newspaper reporter	8.9
19	Tour guide	8.7
20	Telephone company employee	5.1