世論 What Japan Thinks

Today is a bunch of questions from @nifty around the theme of the New Year.

Demographics

Between the 6th and 12th of December 2013 5,418 members of the @nifty internet service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. No further demographic information was provided.

One reason for translating this is that I’ve just finished sending off my New Years cards (the Japanese equivalent of Christmas cards), a total of 16, I think it was, and my wife is sending another 45.

Research results

Q1 was how many New Year postcards (paper, not virtual) people plan to send this year. The graph was broken down by age ranges, but unfortunately did not feature any numbers on the bars, so I have to guess at the results. For those under thirty years old, thirty cards or under was the most common answer; about 25% plan to send none, a fraction over 20% plan to send one to 10 and another fraction over 20% plan to send 11 to 30. One reason for this could be people living with parents and leaving it all up to them, along with more obvious reasons of using email instead. The older people got, the more they planned to send; for example, about 13% of the over-sixties planned to send 101 to 150 cards.

Q2: Which of the following New Years card problems have you experienced yourself? (Sample size=5,418, multiple answer, top 10)

Rank	Problem	Percentage
1	Got a card from someone I didn’t send one to	61%
2	Should I send a card to someone who didn’t send me one last year?	49%
3	I sent them to more people than I planned and ran out	29%
4	What comment should I write on cards to people I’m not really close to?	27%
5	Even though they were in mourning I went and sent them a card (major breach of etiquette!)	19%
6	I was slow to post them, so should I send them after the 4th of January?	18%
7	Printed too many cards and had lots left over	17%
8	Made too many mistakes writing addresses, etc and ran out of cards	14%
9	Ran out of ink while printing them	12%
10	Noticed a mistake after printing them all out	12%

Q3: When doing the end of year cleaning, Spring cleaning, etc, what sorts of things do you feel you should throw away, but cannot bring yourself to do? (Sample size=5,418, multiple answer)

	Male	Female
Clothes I can no longer fit into	40%	54%
Letters, postcards, New Year cards, etc	38%	46%
Books, magazines I won’t read	39%	33%
Presents, photos, letters, etc I received	26%	35%
VHS, vinyl, MD, tape, etc that I can no longer play back	27%	27%
Broken, about to break electrical goods	28%	22%
Pamphlets, tickets I brought back from holiday	24%	31%
Filled-up notebooks	23%	28%
Papers I received from work (salary slips, etc)	21%	27%
Unused sporting goods	18%	16%
Cuddly toys, dolls	11%	29%
Textbooks, uniforms, etc from my schooldays	15%	15%
Accessories, watches, etc	13%	19%
Unused cosmetics, beauty goods	4%	30%
Other	2%	2%
Nothing in particular	13%	7%

Q4: What are the three things you most enjoy about the new year? (Sample size=5,418, three answers)

	Male	Female
Spending time with family	31%	29%
End of year lottery	29%	19%
Traditional foods (osechi, ozone)	27%	23%
NHK Kohaku Song Contest, Ekiden race, other New Year special programs	26%	26%
Hatsumode, New Year visit to a shrine, temple	26%	19%
Toshikoshi soba, traditional noodle dish	22%	12%
New Year postcards	22%	19%
Christmas	16%	26%
End of year party, New Year party, etc	18%	13%
Illuminations	13%	27%
Sales, fukubukuro lucky bags	11%	19%
Visiting my hometown, the relatives	8%	8%
Travel	7%	9%
The first sunrise of the year	7%	5%
Other	3%	6%
Nothing in particular	17%	15%

Q5: How much is appropriate to give a middle-school child (other than your own child, grandchild) as Otoshidama (new year’s gift of money)? (Sample size=5,418)

Nothing	6%
Less than 500 yen	0%
500 yen	1%
1,000 yen	8%
2,000 yen	10%
3,000 yen	38%
5,000 yen	32%
10,000 yen or more	4%
Other	1%

Q6: When you get bored with Osechi (traditional New Year food) what do you want to eat? (Sample size=5,418, multiple answer)

	Male	Female
Ramen	45%	35%
Sushi	34%	33%
Curry	34%	33%
Soba, udon noodles	31%	16%
Yakiniku grilled beef	24%	25%
Nabe (stew), etc	18%	20%
Pizza	12%	19%
Salad, raw vegetables	11%	20%
Bread	10%	19%
Rice	12%	10%
Hamburger, other fast food	10%	14%
Ice cream, other dessert	9%	18%
Miso soup, other soups	11%	10%
Gyudon beef bowl	6%	3%
Other	2%	4%
Don’t get bored with it, don’t eat it	9%	10%

Q7: What single kanji expresses 2013 for you? (Sample size=5,418)

Rank	Kanji	Meaning	Votes
1	苦	Suffering	246
2	変	Change, strange	211
3	忙	Busy	146
4	偽	Fake	144
5	辛	Tough	142
6	楽	Easy	123
7	新	New	96
8	乱	Disordered	93
9	忍	Endurance	88
10	転	Move	85