世論 What Japan Thinks

As it was Fathers Day last Sunday this survey from iShare looked at images of modern-day fathers.

Demographics

Between the 30th of May and the 1st of June 2011 1,343 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-base questionnaire. All of the sample was married, 50.1% of the sample were female, 3.4% in their twenties, 41.7% in their thirties, and 54.9% in their forties.

This survey looked at a new word to me, イケダン, ikedan. The word is a combination of イケる, ikeru, hip or trendy (with a hint of being attractive to the opposite sex) and だんな, danna, husband. It’s a play on イケメン, ikemen, cool guy with a hint of availability.

There’s an ikedan web site, which has the five mottos of an ikedan, namely “Be elegant”, “Live strong”, “Don’t forget to be gentle”, “No excuses”, and “Do things in moderation”. This survey listed the characteristics as “Keeping family important while working hard”, “Don’t hesitate to lend the wife a hand even when busy”, “look cool on the outside too”, and “Not skimping on fashion”, taken from Ikedan Japan web site, which is some kind of Nissan promotion.

Doesn’t look like my style; I’d rather aspire to be a choi-waru oyaji myself!

Research results

Q1: Women: Is your husband kind to you? Men: Are you kind to your wife? (Sample size=1,343)

	All	Male N=670	Female N=673
Very much so	28.7%	20.3%	37.1%
Somewhat so	58.6%	66.4%	50.8%
Not at all	12.7%	13.3%	12.0%

Q2: Women: Are you satisfied with your husband’s current income? Men: Are you satisfied with your current income? (Sample size=1,343)

	All	Male N=670	Female N=673
Very satisfied	10.1%	5.8%	14.3%
Somewhat satisfied	41.8%	37.9%	45.8%
Not satisfied	48.1%	56.3%	40.0%

Q3: Women: How many points would you give your husband as a husband? Men: How many points would you give yourself as a husband? (Sample size=1,343)

	All	Male N=670	Female N=673
100 points	10.2%	6.7%	13.7%
70 to 90 points	48.0%	39.1%	56.9%
40 to 60 points	32.8%	45.4%	20.2%
10 to 30 points	6.3%	6.4%	6.1%
Less than 10 points	2.8%	2.4%	3.1%

Q4: Women: How many points would you give your husband on his appearance? Men: How many points would you give yourself on your appearance? (Sample size=1,343)

	All	Male N=670	Female N=673
100 points	7.4%	5.2%	9.7%
70 to 90 points	34.4%	23.6%	45.2%
40 to 60 points	43.6%	54.3%	33.0%
10 to 30 points	10.5%	13.0%	8.0%
Less than 10 points	4.0%	3.9%	4.2%

Q5: Women: Do you boast about your husband to other people? Men: Does your wife boast about you to other people? (Sample size=1,343)

	All	Male N=670	Female N=673
Yes	20.5%	12.4%	28.5%
No	79.5%	87.6%	71.5%

Q6: Women: Do you think your husband is cool and trendy? Men: Do you think you yourself are cool and trendy? (Sample size=1,343)

	All	Male N=670	Female N=673
Yes	33.7%	28.7%	38.8%
No	66.3%	71.3%	61.2%

Q7: Women: Do you aspire to having an “ikedan”? Men: Do you aspire to becoming an “ikedan”? (Sample size=1,343)

	All	Male N=670	Female N=673
Yes (to SQ)	37.2%	29.6%	44.9%
No	62.8%	70.4%	55.1%

Q7SQ: Women: What is the most important aspect of an “ikedan”? Men: What is your own most important aspect as an aspiring “ikedan”? (Sample size=500)

	All	Male N=198	Female N=302
Keeping family important while working hard	57.0%	62.1%	53.6%
Not hesitating to lend the wife a hand	32.0%	21.2%	39.1%
Looking cool on the outside too	7.8%	11.6%	5.3%
Not skimping on fashion	3.2%	5.1%	2.0%

Q8: Women: Does your husband take the initiative with contributing to the family? Men: Do you take the initiative with contributing to the family? (Sample size=1,343)

	All	Male N=670	Female N=673
Yes (to SQ)	79.2%	68.1%	70.3%
No	30.8%	31.9%	29.7%

Q8SQ: Women: With what does your husband take the initiative with contributing to the family? Men: Whith what do you take the initiative with contributing to the family? (Sample size=929, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=456	Female N=473
Taking the family shopping	61.9%	64.5%	59.4%
Cleaning the bath, toilet, etc	51.8%	57.9%	45.9%
Taking the family out to eat	50.5%	54.4%	46.7%
Tidying up, hoovering the room	48.4%	55.0%	42.1%
Taking the family out for a drive	41.6%	47.4%	35.9%
Helping with the cooking	40.2%	40.8%	39.5%
Taking the children out to play	38.1%	41.7%	34.7%
Washing clothes	33.2%	37.7%	28.8%
Taking the children, collecting the children from school, etc	22.9%	25.7%	20.3%
Putting the cildren to bed	19.8%	21.9%	17.8%
Coordinating the children’s clothes	5.1%	6.4%	3.8%
Other	8.0%	2.6%	13.1%