世論 What Japan Thinks

Well, given the sample internet population that replied to this questionnaire that headline is true, as revealed by a recent survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into internet auctions.

Demographics

Between the 5th and 7th of January 2009 1,027 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.0% of the sample were male, 16.4% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.7% in their fifties, and 12.1% aged sixty or older.

I’ve never participated in an internet auction, as the worry about getting ripped-off outweighs any financial benefit that I feel I would gain from using it.

If you want to take part in a Japanese auction but live overseas, one easy way is through a Japan-based representative, with Rinku being one well-known example.
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Following up on coffee shop chain images comes another survey from iShare, this time looking at cellphone carrier image.

Demographics

Between the 17th and 19th of December 2008 402 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.7% of the sample were male, 15.4% in their twenties, 45.0% in their thirties, 32.3% in their forties, and 7.2% in either their teens or aged fifty or older.

Given SoftBank’s image in the title, it does seem appropriate that they supply Mickey Mouse phones.

In Japan too the New Year brings sales, so this survey from the curiously-named RealWorld RealResearch and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at New Year digital home electrics purchases.

Demographics

On the 4th of January 2009 1,201 members of the RealWorld RealResearch monitor panel completed presumably a private internet-based questionnaire. 59.1% of the sample were male, 8.7% in their teens, 7.4% in their twenties, 20.8% in their thirties, 12.8% in their forties, 27.6% in their fifties, and 22.6% aged sixty or older. (That’s a rather unusual age distribution!)

I didn’t buy any digital electronics, although I did get a room humidifier and some blank DVDs. Most of the items I need to buy are very digital on the inside but boring old white goods on the outside, such as a rice cooker as our current one’s non-stick is coming unstuck, and no doubt very soon I’ll also need a new washing machine as it’s on its last legs.
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Although Joe Jones at MutantFrog is arguing that Japan doesn’t need work-life balance, I think it is badly needed, so this ranking survey from goo Ranking looking at what systems people think companies should introduce to realise work-life balance, for both men and women, was rather informative for me.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 23rd of November 2008 1,083 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a privacte internet-based questionnaire. 50.4% of the sample were female, 9.0% in their teens, 15.7% in their twenties, 29.1% in their thirties, 25.5% in their forties, 11.3% in their fifties, and 9.4% 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.

Just in case the terminology is a bit unclear, nursing refers to looking after an aged or infirm relative, and “returning to the workforce systems” is for mothers looking for a new job, as currently they find it very difficult to get a professional post after a few years out of the market. On the other hand, “support for returning to the same job” is to ease transition back into one’s old workplace after perhaps just a year or two off.

What’s needed in my opinion is training in time management to teach everyone how to do their job in the nine-to-five, and all the associated support systems that go along with that to ensure it is enforced at all levels in the workplace.
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I don’t really know what to make of the headline, but it was an interesting result that came out of a recent survey by goo Research, reported on by japan.internet.com, into internet advertising, the second regular monthly survey into this topic.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 25th of December 2008 1,082 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.1% of the sample were male, 16.4% in their teens, 17.8% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16.1% in their forties, and 28,2% aged fifty or older.

Comparing Q2 with the results of the first regular internet advertising survey, I see that contextual search ads are perceived as marginally more useful than contextual contents ads, which is interesting. In addition, it appears people are more aware of contextual search ads according to the last survey compared to content-based contextual ads in this survey.
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Here’s one of these surveys which teaches me something new about Japan; this time it was a survey from Research Plus, reported on by japan.internet.com, into selling medical goods over the internet.

Demographics

On the 5th of December 2008 300 members of the Research Plus monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, 16.3% in their twenties, 38.0% in their thirties, 29.7% in their forties, 13.3% in their fifties, and 2.7% in their sixties.

In September of this year it was decided that from 2009 it will be possible to buy over the internet such over-the-counter medicines as anti-flatulence pills and vitamins, but as can be seen in Q2SQ, a lot of other seemingly innocent drugs are still not sellable.
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Here’s an interesting (but a fuller version would be even more interesting) survey conducted by Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com into taking work computers home.

Demographics

Between the 4th and 9th of December 2008 300 members of the Marsh monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.0% of the sample were male, 20.0% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 20.0% in their fifties, and 20.0% aged sixty or older.

At my place of work we have a number of interesting rules regarding taking computers out of the office. I take mine home almost every day, and of course since it is forbidden I never ever use it to prepare my blog entries nor have I installed no end of tools to assist in creation of said entries, even though by deleting the uninstall entries from the registry they can be hidden from the licence checking software. Or so I’ve been told, I of course do not know if that is true or not.
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With so many free web-based mail services on offer, a surprising result from a survey conducted by Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com into web email was that a number of people do actually pay for it.

Demographics

Between the 29th of November and the 2nd of December 2008 300 people from the Marsh monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.0% of the sample were male, 20.0% were in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 20.0% in their fifties, and 20.0% aged sixty or older.

Unfortunately, this survey did not report what sort of services people were paying for, although perhaps if you paid Marsh some money they’d tell you. I suppose I could say that I pay for two web mail services; one through this web site hosting as I do use the web mail reading facility, and the other is PoBox.com that I use for mail forwarding my private email, although I don’t use their web mail, which is an additional charge.
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No, not a free offer from me, but some research into 年賀状, nengajou, New Year Postcards conducted by iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com looking in particular at both free advertisement-plastered pre-franked postcards and the SNS mixi’s pay service for sending postcards to virtual friends whilst retaining privacy, a process which I wouldn’t be surprised if they have applied for a patent for.

Demographics

On the 25th of November 2008 300 people from the iBridge monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.7% of the sample were female, 14.3% in their twenties, 37.3% in their thirties, 31.7% in their forties, 10.3% in their fifties, and 6.3% in their sixties.

Looking at the web site giving the cards away (too late, the closing date is past!) it’s actually rather a good idea. The cards have the adverts inside the postcard and can be peeled open, otherwise you get an almost completely blank card for you do draw or print on as desired.

I’ve already ordered and received my Year of the Cow cards; two styles, one with Hello Kitty in a field of cows, the other is just a generic cute cartoon cow design. Both were designed and ordered over the internet, but we’ll be printing out the addresses at home.
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Own brands, or house brands as I think they are known as in the USA, or private brands as they are known in Japan, are the supermarket’s own label items that are sold cheaper than the household brand names. To see what Japan thinks of them, MyVoice performed a survey into own brand products.

Demographics

Over the first five days on November 2008 15,510 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% in their teens, 15% in their twenties, 36% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 18% aged fifty or older.

I try to keep away from own brands in Japan, as I’ve not had very good experiences with them, on the whole. Daiei do fake Kit-Kats, for instance. Their plain ones just don’t have the right chocolate or the crispiness in the wafer, and their flavoured ones are downright nasty!

I think I remember back in the UK there was a web site that listed which own brands were repackaged famous brands; I wonder if such a service exists over here?
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