This year sees the fourth year of Cool Biz, an initiative started by the Japanese government to persuade businesses and homes to set air conditioners to 28°C in the summer and to wear lighter clothes and no ties. To see how it has been progressing, Cabinet Office Japan looked at awareness of Cool Biz.
Demographics
Between the 28th of May and the 7th of June 2009 of the 3,000 people selected at random from all over Japan, 2,054 people (or 68.5%) completed a questionnaire conducted via face-to-face interviews.
Looking at the details on occupation, it’s interesting that the government still has only a “housewife” category, not a gender-neutral “homemaker” or a “/househusband”.
I most often feel the air-conditioner is too strong in trains, although so far this year it’s been a bit more gentle than usual. Although my employer makes a big fuss about supporting Cool Biz and selling Eco Ideas, my office this year too is 23°C or 24°C, cold on my skin in short sleeves. Read the rest of this entry »
Between the 22nd and 26th of June 2009 exactly 1,000 mobile phone-using members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.6% of the sample were female, 1.8% in their teens, 18.5% in their twenties, 34.0% in their thirties, 26.8% in their forties, and 18.9% aged fifty or older.
I’ve had a look at this summer’s models, and the first one to catch my eye was the Toshiba T-01A offered through docomo, but it doesn’t fit into my hand and feels cheap and flimsy, and it’s not up to spec for Japan; it looks like a rebadged US phone, but apparently it isn’t. Next is the new HTC HT-03A, the very first Google Android phone for Japan, which is extremely comfortable to hold, but again it is missing most of the standard Japanese features like One Seg television, FeliCa electronic cash, and emoji. I also had a look at the Biblio also from Toshiba and au, touted as an electronic book reader as well as a phone, but I was struck by how heavy it felt. It looks like I’ll be keeping my very old P702iD for a few more months until one of the Japanese manufacturers comes out with a proper Android phone with all the add-ons we expect to see in Japan. Read the rest of this entry »
The pink bunny is the mascot character of the not-very-sadly missed English school, Nova, which succumbed to market forces last year, although the name has been bought out and the rabbit has returned from the grave and been spotted in television advertisements. The survey presented here is from iShare, where they looked at bankruptcy.
Demographics
Between the 9th and 12th of June 2009 558 mobile phone-owning members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.9% of the sample were male, 38.4% in their twenties, 31.2% in their thirties, and 30.5% in their forties.
If I’ve made mistakes in identifying any of the companies in Q2, please send me corrections and I’ll update as required!
I don’t think any English-speaking foreigners in Japan could have been surprised at Nova’s demise, as it had been ailing for many a month and it was quite frankly a mercy killing when the rabbit finally shuffled off this mortal coil. Read the rest of this entry »
Although this survey from iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com into cosmetics shopping sites has as the survey base women who are already online, discovering that the majority of them who have shopped for cosmetics in the last year have does it at least once online in that period.
Demographics
On the 22nd of June 2009 300 female members of the iBridge monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 24.3% of the sample were in their twenties, 38.0% in their thirties, 24.3% in their forties, 10.0% in their fifties, and 3.3% in their sixties.
I don’t think my wife’s bought online, except for a tester kit that cost a bit of money for delivery. She’s won quite a bit, though, including one that came with a Christian book that seemed to be part of a vaguely pyramid-shaped affiliate scheme… Read the rest of this entry »
< ?PHP
include "/home/whatjapa/public_html/libchart/libchart.php";
$chart = new PieChart(400, 200);
$chart->setTitle(“Have you ever seen the ‘Train Channel’?”);
$chart->addPoint(new Point(“Yes”, 59.3));
$chart->addPoint(new Point(“No”, 40.7));
$chart->render(“/home/whatjapa/public_html/image09/seen-train-channel.png”);
?> Here’s a whole lot of buzzwords relating to the business of digital signage, the subject of a survey conducted by iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com.
Demographics
On the 8th of June 2009 300 members of the iBridge monitor group resident in the Tokyo area completed an internet-based questionnaire. 50.7% of the sample were male, 15.3% in their twenties, 33.0% in their thirties, 33.7% in their forties, 14.3% in their fifties, and 3.7% aged sixty or older.
In Q1 I present both the English and the Japanese. For my readers who don’t understand Japanese, you’ll just have to take my word on the difference between “sign” and “signage” or “bulletin board” and “board”. For my readers who do understand, I cannot explain the difference in usage between “sign” and “signage” or “bulleting board” and “board”, except that’s just how the buzzwords have been coined!
In Q2, a number of the Tokyo lines have television screens in them that display information such as upcoming stops, platform exit information, news and advertising, colloquially known as the “Train Channel”. Read the rest of this entry »
Here is the latest set of results from goo Research’s regular monthly survey into internet advertising, their sixth in the series, reported on by japan.internet.com.
Demographics
Between the 25th and 28th of May 2009 1,089 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.5% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16.1% in their forties, and 27.9% aged fifty or older.
I was disappointed to see (but not surprised looking at my revenue!) that links such as me urging you to buy crappy keitai straps from Japan don’t seem to find much favour with Japanese, but email newsletters being even further down the pecking order seemed a surprise, and I’m not really sure why contextual ads come dead last. Read the rest of this entry »
Given that the interest rates on saving in Japan are laughably miniscule, I am surprised by the results of this survey from MyVoice into the usage of foreign currency savings (the sixth time the survey has been conducted) showing that about as many people are profiting (or not as the case may be) from exchange rate movements as from superior interest rates.
Demographics
Over the first five days of May 2009 14,952 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 34% in their thirties, 31% in their forties, and 19% aged fifty or older.
I’ve got a bit of foreign savings (as I’m sure all my resident foreigner readers do!), but given the recent collapse in the UK pound exchange rate and in UK interest rates it’s not doing terribly well, to say the least! I’m not interested in active trading, however. Read the rest of this entry »
With the recent introduction of the Eco Points system of awards for buying environmentally-friendly products (although there’s still no system for spending said points), this recent survey conducted by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into said Eco Points system found that digital terrestrial-ready televisions were the most popular electronics that fall under the system’s umbrella.
Demographics
Between the 20th and 22nd of May 2009 1,088 members of the goo Monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.9% of the sample were male, 16.6% in their teens, 18.0% in their twenties, 21.2% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.8% and their fifties, and 12.1% aged sixty or older.
If you wish to take advantage of the system yourself, you need to keep both the shop receipt and the guarantee that usually comes in a green envelope. In addition, if you wish to take advantage of bonus points for getting your old items recycled, also keep the recycling receipt. You then take them all along to the appropiate desk at your local city hall (I think) to get credited the points, then wait until the rewards are decided. I saw on a program last week that they are thinking of offering regional delicacies and other over-priced tat. Read the rest of this entry »
This survey from MyVoice into corporate sports looked at the issue of companies funding their own teams that, on the whole, compete in corporate leagues filled with lots of other company-funded teams.
Demographics
Over the first five days of May 2009 14,884 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 34% in their thirties, 31% in their forties, and 19% aged fifty or older.
There’s a lot of corporate teams in Japan where the sportspeople are employed full-time by the company to be representatives, although the current harsh economic times has seen the death of the amuzingly-named Seibu Prince Rabbits.
My employer also has such teams, with basketball being the main sport that I can think of. Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s a ranking survey from goo Ranking, as usual, that I never quite got round to translating when it was published last month, looking at the top thirty curious product ideas in Japan.
Demographics
Between the 23rd and 25th of March 2009 1,043 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 52.2% of the sample were male, 7.8% in their teens, 17.1% in their twenties, 28.2% in their thirties, 24.8% in their forties, 11.4% in their fifties, and 10.7% 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.
Bras for men is not an original idea, as this video demonstrates:
This year sees the fourth year of Cool Biz, an initiative started by the Japanese government to persuade businesses and homes to set air conditioners to 28°C in the summer and to wear lighter clothes and no ties. To see how it has been progressing, Cabinet Office Japan looked at awareness of Cool Biz.
goo Research recently conducted their 47th regular 
The pink bunny is the mascot character of the not-very-sadly missed English school, Nova, which succumbed to market forces last year, although the name has been bought out and the rabbit has returned from the grave and been spotted in television advertisements. The survey presented here is from iShare, where they looked at 
Although this survey from iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com into 
Here’s a whole lot of buzzwords relating to the business of 
Here is the latest set of results from goo Research’s regular monthly survey into 
Given that the interest rates on saving in Japan are laughably miniscule, I am surprised by the results of this survey from MyVoice into the 
With the recent introduction of the Eco Points system of awards for buying environmentally-friendly products (although there’s still no system for spending said points), this recent survey conducted by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into said 
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