世論 What Japan Thinks

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

The Cabinet Office Japan recently carried out a survey into society.

Demographics

Between the 20th of January and the 6th of February 2011 10,000 people aged 20 or older selected at random from residency registers from all over the country were approached for interview and 6,338 people agreed to a face-to-face interview. 53.8% of the sample were female, 7.9% in their twenties, 14.0% in their thirties, 16.6% in their forties, 17.2% in their fifties, 23.4% in their sixties, 15.7% in their seventies, and 5.4% aged eighty or older.

I’d be in the “not really” category in the pie chart above. I of course greet everyone in our building when I meet them in the common spaces, and there’s a few other people, but it all gets back to my anti-social gitness, I suppose!

Research results

Q6: How often do you interact with people in your neighbourhood? (Sample size=6,338)

Very often	20.3%
To some degree	49.5%
Not really	24.1%
Not at all	6.0%
Don’t know	0.1%

Q7: To what degree would you wish to interact with people in your neighbourhood? (Sample size=6,338)

All residents help each other out when they have problems	44.0%
Like-minded residents help each other out when they have problems	26.2%
Rather than helping each other out, all residents participate in festivals, events	15.7%
Rather than helping each other out, residents chit-chat with each other	5.2%
Rather than helping each other out, residents say hello to each other	6.6%
No need to interact with other people	1.0%
Other	0.3%
Don’t know	1.1%

Q8: Which of the following light images apply to the current social situation? (Sample size=6,338, multiple answer)

Peaceful	55.1%
Safe	15.0%
Considerate	12.4%
Sense of personal accountability	8.4%
Room to breathe	7.7%
Bright	6.8%
Sense of community	4.6%
Zing	4.2%
Other	0.2%
Nothing in particular	21.9%
Don’t know	2.1%

Q9: Which of the following dark images apply to the current social situation? (Sample size=6,338, multiple answer)

Strong tide of irresponsility	44.7%
No room to breathe	40.3%
Selfishness	38.9%
No zing	32.7%
Scant sense of community	31.8%
Lack of safety, lots of irritation	26.7%
Frivolity and flippancy	15.1%
Dark	12.5%
Other	0.6%
Nothing in particular	2.5%
Don’t know	0.8%

Q10: Which of the following aspects of Japan or the Japanese can you be proud of? (Sample size=6,338, multiple answer)

Beautiful nature	53.9%
Illustrious culture and arts	47.5%
Long history and traditions	47.1%
Good public order	44.2%
Citizens’ studiousness, talent	34.6%
Free and peaceful society	27.3%
High scientific, technical standards	26.4%
Citizens’ humanity, sense of duty	25.9%
High educational standards	17.1%
Safe society	10.8%
Economic prosperity	8.0%
Cohesiveness of the citizenry	4.9%
Other	0.2%
Nothing, don’t know	3.2%

Q11: Which of the following aspects of today’s society are you satisfied with? (Sample size=6,338, multiple answer)

High quality living environment	33.8%
Maintenance of physical and mental health	21.9%
Easy to express one’s desire of learning, one’s ambitions	15.9%
Easy to mutually relate to people	14.3%
Easy for women to aspire to be successful in society	14.3%
Easy for middle-aged and older people to be involved in society	10.8%
Easy to select working style	9.7%
Easy for families to bring up children	7.5%
Easy to find opportunities	5.6%
Having financial room to breathe	3.6%
Easy for young people to strive towards being independent in society	2.2%
Other	0.2%
Nothing in particular	28.4%
Don’t know	2.2%

Q12: Which of the following aspects of today’s society are you not satisfied with? (Sample size=6,338, multiple answer)

Having financial room to breathe	46.0%
Ease for young people to strive towards being independent in society	40.0%
Ease to select working style	30.3%
Ease for families to bring up children	27.7%
Ease for middle-aged and older people to be involved in society	26.4%
Ease for women to aspire to be successful in society	17.7%
Ease to find opportunities	17.3%
Ease to mutually relate to people	13.9%
High quality living environment	10.8%
Maintenance of physical and mental health	9.8%
Ease to express one’s desire of learning, one’s ambitions	9.6%
Other	1.0%
Nothing in particular	9.1%
Don’t know	2.7%

Q13: Overall, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with today’s society? (Sample size=6,338)

Satisfied	4.8%
Somewhat satisfied	40.1%
Somewhat dissatisfied	41.0%
Dissatisfied	13.5%
Don’t know	0.6%

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]