世論 What Japan Thinks

Today, Christmas Eve, is the big day in Japan, where families gather around the hearth kotatsu to enjoy a KFC party bucket, and young couples go on dates. But, goo Ranking wondered, what do people without dates do, more particularly what do people do so as not to let on they are single this Christmas. I suppose a more appropriate title would be “How to pretend you have a date on Christmas Eve”, though.

Demographics

Between the 18th and 20th of October 2011 1,092 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.3% of the sample were male, 11.2% in their teens, 16.2% in their twenties, 25.7% in their thirties, 25.8% in their forties, 11.5% in their fifties, and 9.5% 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.

It’s a pretty sad bunch of answers, so instead have a Rainbow Christmas:

By the way, my night tonight is with yesterday’s reheated mushroom chowder and rice, with some RL Waffles for dessert.

Ranking result

Q: What actions do people take to not let on they are single at Christmas? (Sample size=1,092)

Rank		Score
1	Leave work on the stroke of 5pm	100
2	Buy a whole cake	86.0
3	Refuse invites for Christmas Eve from friends	85.3
4	Pretend to be on the phone when walking along	54.3
5	When buying at the convenience store, etc, ask for two pairs of chopsticks, wet tissues, etc	53.5
6	Put a ring on one’s ring finger	46.5
7	Put on one’s best clothes and leave the house	39.5
8	Hang about under a streetlight checking one’s watch	38.8
9	Buy a KFC party bucket	37.2
10	Walk along carrying a small bag that looks as if it has a present inside	36.4
11	Order a pizza for two at home	31.8
12	Bustle down the street in a semi-jog	29.5
13	Stop tweeting for a certain period of time	15.5
14	Walk along carrying a bunch of flowers	10.9
15	Stay in a twin room at a hotel	10.1