世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s an interesting survey from goo Research that I wish had been around a month ago, as the topic was quite hot then. Regardless, I present it anyway, a look at why Japanese are unable to find a partner for many a year, for both women and men.

Demographics

The survey was conducted between the 4th and 8th of October 2013 where 1,074 people completed a private web-based questionnaire. However, goo Ranking have recently revamped their ranking page and have dropped the link to their demographics. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

The reason I say it was a hot topic was because there was a rash of “sexless youth” stories based on a poorly-translated or misconstrued survey into young people and relationships.

Ranking results

Q1: Why have you been unable to find a guy for many a year? (Sample size=women)

Rank		Score
1	It’s too much of a bother dating someone	100
2	I’m an indoor type, so I don’t get the chance to meet guys	84.9
3	I cannot engage guys in conversation	75.3
4	I don’t know what’s best to talk to guys about	73.1
5	I have no confidence so cannot get any self-affirmation	63.4
6	I forget to keep touch	57.0
7	My ideals are too high	54.8
8	I just end up hanging out with other girls	49.5
9	When I try to be feminine I sound all rough	43.0
10	I’m a long way away from being what would normally be considered beautiful	38.7
11	I’m narrow-minded and self-centred	36.6
12=	I’m very particular about the look I like in guys	33.3
12=	I dream of guys too much	33.3
14	When I talk to guys I get all nervous and act suspiciously	32.3
15	As I’m scared of being dumped, I cannot take a step towards love	30.1
16	I cannot show consideration	29.0
17=	I can only love in 2D	26.9
17=	I end up being too demanding with partners	26.9
19	I have no fashion sense	24.7
20	Whatever I do, I do it awkwardly	23.7
21	I cannot sense the mood	22.6
22	I’m too busy at work, so don’t have the breathing space to deal with love	18.3
23	I cannot look people in the eye when I talk to them	15.1
24	My mother keeps me on a short leash	14.0
25=	I love myself too much to be able to love others	11.8
25=	The guys around me’s conversation level is too low and doesn’t suit me	11.8
27	I end up looking down on people when I talk to them	10.8
28=	I stink! (of body odour)	8.6
28=	I am devoting my life to something more important than love	8.6
30	I don’t a discerning eye for guys	7.5

Q2: Why have you been unable to find a girl for many a year? (Sample size=men)

Rank		Score
1	It’s too much of a bother dating someone	100
2	I’m an indoor type, so I don’t get the chance to meet girls	90.7
3	My ideals are too high	84.9
4	I don’t know what’s best to talk to girls about	82.6
5	I cannot engage girls in conversation	80.2
6	I’m very particular about the look I like in girls	68.6
7	I have no confidence so cannot get any self-affirmation	65.1
8	As I’m scared of being dumped, I cannot take a step towards love	58.1
9	I’m a long way away from being what would normally be considered handsome	55.8
10	I just end up hanging out with other guys	52.3
11	I’m narrow-minded and self-centred	50.0
12	I forget to keep touch	47.7
13	I have no fashion sense	44.2
14=	I cannot show consideration	40.7
14=	I cannot sense the mood	40.7
16	When I try to be masculine I do it weakly	38.4
17=	I cannot look people in the eye when I talk to them	36.0
17=	When I talk to girls I get all nervous and act suspiciously	36.0
19=	I dream of girls too much	34.9
19=	Whatever I do, I do it awkwardly	34.9
21	I can only love in 2D	30.2
22	I’m too busy at work, so don’t have the breathing space to deal with love	27.9
23	I end up being too demanding with partners	25.6
24	I stink! (of body odour)	24.4
25	I soon end up showing off how great I am	23.3
26=	I have an extreme obsession with cleanliness	18.6
26=	I don’t a discerning eye for girls	18.6
28=	I love myself too much to be able to love others	17.4
28=	I was too much of a ladies’ man in a previous life, so I am working off my bad karma	17.4
30	The girls around me’s conversation level is too low and doesn’t suit me	16.3