世論 What Japan Thinks

Come the New Year, without fail U-Can flood the airwaves and newspapers with adverts for mail-order qualifications, so this ranking survey from goo Ranking into what correspondence course qualifications would people like to earn from the comfort of their own home

Demographics

Over the 20th and 21st of December 2010 1,128 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 65.4% of the sample were female, 11.9% in their teens, 17.2% in their twenties, 30.2% in their thirties, 23.2% in their forties, 10.0% in their fifties, and 7.4% 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.

Looking at the rest of the list, colour coordinator sticks out like a sore thumb as a rather mickey mouse qualification. Number 12, weather forecaster, is a curious facet of Japan – gaining the qualification is rather difficult, but many, many people try for it just for the sake of having it, it seems.

Ranking result

Q: What correspondence course qualifications would you like to earn from the comfort of your own home? (Sample size=1,128)

Rank		Score
1	Bookkeeping	100
2	Colour coordinator	93.6
3	Financial planner	83.8
4	Microsoft Office Specialist	77.9
5	Notary public	62.1
6	Business qualification	47.7
7	Registered real-estate broker	45.1
8	Licensed social insurance consultant	43.4
9	Secretary	41.3
10	Judicial clerk	39.6
11	Advisory specialist for consumer affairs	39.1
12	Certificated weather forecaster	34.0
13	Civil servant	29.4
14	Chartered accountant	28.9
15	Information security administrator	28.5
16	System administrator	27.2
17=	Condominium management	26.8
17=	Fundamental information technology engineer	26.8
19	Certified tax accountant	25.5
20=	Travel agency management	25.1
20=	Small and medium enterprise management consultant	25.1
22	Real-estate valuer	22.6
23	Retail salesperson	21.3
24	Career counsellor, consultant	20.9
25	Real-estate surveyor	18.3
26	Import/export business	16.2
27=	Customs inspector	14.0
27=	Registered architect	14.0
29	Lawyer	11.9
30	Securities broker representative	10.6