世論 What Japan Thinks

goo Research recently published the highlights of a survey they performed in conjunction with President magazine (hmm, I could very well buy that issue!) into the English-language ability of professional people.

Demographics

Detailed demographics were not given, but the sample consisted of 1,031 members of the goo Research online monitor group who were not necessarily readers of President. The sample was also limited to those between the ages of 30 and 59 who had not lived overseas but had taken a TOEIC exam. Note that a TOEIC score of 470 corresponds to reasonable ability with conversation and 730 to the beginning of decent proficiency in English.

It’s a bit difficult to draw many conclusions from this survey as having to use English in the workplace is going to naturally improve your English level, and with a number of companies having regulations that require a certain level of English to get promotion, and in an international business the higher-ups are going to have to need English to negotiate, so I think this survey is illustrating correlation, not causation.
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iShare’s latest look at disaster-related topics was related to walking home, specifically in the case of a major earthquake that knocked the trains out, could people get back home from work or school under their own steam.

Demographics

On the 29th and 30th of March 2011 1,697 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.3% of the sample were male, 3.6% in their twenties, 47.0% in their thirties, and 49.4% in their forties.

I’l quite surprised at the number who said they could make their own way home, given that the average commute time for Japanese is about an hour each way, most of which is in a train. I roughly know how to get home from work, but if I took a “follow the railway line” one I’d have to go through the centre of Osaka which is liable to be flooded by any tsunami that would follow a major Nankai earthquake. The other railway line to follow home is a raised monorail, so following it would also be difficult, and given that it’s about 30 kilometres home as the crow flies, I’d commandeer a bicycle…
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Thankfully the average Japanese person appears to have relied primarily on television news for gathering information in times of disaster, as unlike a lot of overseas media, the public broadcaster NHK’s news broadcasts were very calm and measured. This survey was by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Over the 22nd and 23rd of March 2011 1,138 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.0% of the sample were male, 16.3% in their teens, 17.8% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16.5% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 12.2% aged sixty or older.

Regarding Japan’s telelvision, please don’t fall into the trap of assuming it is all state-controlled propaganda. As I posted at length on in another blog, the coverage is in-depth and investigative, and don’t assume it isn’t just because they are not camped out on TEPCO’s president’s doorstep. There’s also an interesting site gathering together a list of the angels and demons in the foreign press that may serve as a useful reference.

Perhaps an unreported follow-on question from Q3 was how people would use their mobile devices to gather information. For myself, I have found the one-seg digital telelvision feature on my mobile phone indispensable.
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With Renho, the minister for power cuts, and television advertisements scolding us about using electricity due to ongoing shortage of generation facilities in the Tokyo and northward caused by a slight problem you might have hear something about, iShare took a look at if and how people were saving electricity.

Demographics

Over the 29th and 30th of March 2011, 1,697 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.3% of the sample were male, 3.6% in their twenties, 47.0% in their thirties, and 49.4% in their forties.

Every time my mother emails me she always comments about how stoic and resolute the people in the affected areas are when they are interviewed on television, so I’m sure she’ll be impressed by Q3B, showing that over a third of these in unaffected areas are saving electricity too. Areas south of about Mount Fuji or so are on 60 Hertz, so we cannot donate much electricity up to the 50 Hertz north, so there is no logical reason for us to cut back, but for reasons of moral support we are.
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Keitai (mobile phone) novels are a type of work often written episodically with consumption on a mobile phone in mind, often in the style of email messages complete with slang, emoticons and emoji. This survey, goo Research’s 8th regular look at these keitai novels found that the percentage consuming them on smartphones had tripled since March of last year.

Demographics

On the 28th of March 2011 1,139 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.3% of the sample were male, 16.6% in their teens, 17.6% in their twenties, 21.8% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 16.0% in their fifties, and 11.9% in their sixties.

The increase in readership on smartphones is curious; it would be interesting to see how many of the smartphone readers were ex-mobile phone readers who had upgraded, as I would guess it would be a significant percentage.
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To most (I hope…) Western men Ladies First and other chivalrous acts come as second nature, but in Japan what we take for granted is unusual or indeed embarassing behaviour for women to experience. This problematic chivalry was the subject of a recent survey by goo Ranking.

Demographics

Over the 19th and 20th of January 2011 1,084 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 60.2% of the sample were female, 8.5% in their teens, 18.5% in their twenties, 31.9% in their thirties, 23.2% in their forties, 9.5% in their fifties, and 8.5% 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. This survey was for the women only.

I’m not sure of the correct etiquette for retrieving a soggy hankie – perhaps one should offer to wash it, but in the modern world I don’t think that would be acceptable. Number two is a strange one – accompanying text suggested that the blowing noise (as opposed to the slurping noise?) would be unacceptable, but blowing on your food is a no-no. However, again I’m not sure of the correct action in that circumstances.
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goo Research, as reported by japan.internet.com, took a look at home computer use, with the published report focusing on problems with them.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 25th of March 2011 1,083 members of the goo Research monitor group answered a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.1% of the sample were male, 16.6% in their teens, 17.6% in their twenties, 21.0% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 16.0% in their fifties, and 12.6% aged sixty or older.

I don’t think I’ve had any particular problem with my PC in the last year, although my wife always has problems with Internet Explorer being too slow as she has millions of bookmarks, and repeated running of Flash fills up the memory in no time.
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goo Research recently performed their 14th regular survey into internet advertising; this is their first reported survey since the earthquake, and it was noted that people living in certain of the affected areas were excluded from the survey.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 24th of March 2011 1,077 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.6% of the sample were male, 17.1% in their teens, 18.5% in their twenties, 20.9% in their thirties, 17.0% in their forties, and 26.6% aged fifty or older.

Despite Google constantly updating their AdSense system to make it more attractive for clickers, and despite my traffic steadily rising, but allowing for the yen depreciation, for the last three years my income has remained sadly flat. I do have contextual adverts in my custom search, but I think most of the people searching my site fall into the “almost never look at them” demographic!
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