Demographics

Between the 17th and 19th of January 2014 1,204 members of the public from all over Japan completed an internet questionnaire, although it is not specified how the sample was selected. 50.2% of the sample were male, 19.9% in their twenties, 19.9% in their thirties, 19.9% in their forties, 20.0% in their fifties, and 20.1% aged sixty or older.

Last year I probably managed about six or so movies, mostly western human drama stories. I find action and SF movies these days a bit too loud and intense; the one I went to last year was Total Recall, which was pretty atrocious.

From this summer, though, I qualify for the old folks discount at my usual chain, so perhaps I’ll be seeing more movies in the second half of the year? For the first half, I want to see Rush and The Hobbit part two, both of which are not out here yet.

Research results

Q1: Last year, 2013, how many times did you watch a movie at a cinema? (Sample size=1,204)

Never	57.8%
Once to thrice	28.2%
Four to eight times	9.1%
Nine to eleven times	1.8%
Twelve or more times	3.2%

Q2: What was the main reason why you didn’t watch more (any) movies at a cinema last year? (Sample size=1,204)

	All	Didn’t attend any movies
No films I wanted to see	14.5%	25.0%
Didn’t have time to visit the cinema	14.2%	24.6%
Not interested in movies	11.1%	19.3%
No cinemas close at hand	8.2%	14.2%
No-one to go with	3.5%	6.0%
Not interested in, hate cinemas	1.7%	2.9%
Other	4.7%	8.0%
No reason	42.2%	–

Q3: Who did you go to the cinema with last year? (Sample size=movie goers, multiple answer)

By myself	33.5%
With friends	13.9%
With boyfriend, girlfriend	5.4%
With spouse	26.3%
With children, family	20.0%
Other	0.9%

Q4: Which genres of movies did you go to see last year? (Sample size=1,204, multiple answer)

	First	Second	Third
Twenties	Domestic animation (30.4%)	Western SF, action (22.9%)	Domestic human drama (20.0%)
Thirties	Domestic animation (18.3%)	Western SF, action (13.8%)	Domestic human drama (7.1%)
Forties	Domestic human drama (18.3%)	Western SF, action (15.8%)	Domestic animation (13.3%)
Fifties	Domestic human drama (20.7%)	Western SF, action (19.5%)	Western human drama (13.7%)
Sixties plus	Domestic human drama (18.1%)	Western SF, action (14.0%)	Western human drama (13.6%)

Note that the 57.8% who didn’t go to the cinema last year were included in the calculations.

Q5: What is the appropriate length of a movie? (Sample size=1,204)

Less than an hour	1.4%
One to one and a half hours	12.0%
One and a half to two hours	55.1%
Two to two and a half hours	28.7%
Two and a half to three hours	2.2%
More than three hours	0.6%

Demographics

Between the 15th and 17th of January 2014 exactly 1,000 members of the Intage-run Cue Monitor site completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, and 20.0% in each of the age groups of twenties, thirties, forties, fifties and sixties.

The pie chart above is interesting because the Japan Olympic Committee has set a target of outdoing their performance at Nagano in 1998 where they won 10 medals, including five gold. I think that is unobtainable, particularly five golds, but unlike the majority of respondents, I can see around seven to nine medals being obtained. Wee Sara Takanashi is a shoo-in for gold in the ski jump, figure skating might see a gold for Mao Asada and one or two other places, along with a couple of speed skating medals. Add in a couple of good performances in other sports and we have two gold and six of other colours.

I’m moderately interested in the games myself, but I’ll probably not do much more than watch the highlights on the news, I suspect.

Research results

Q1: Are you interested in the Sochi Olympics? (Sample size=1,000)

Interested (to SQ1 onwards)	16.4%
Somewhat interested (to SQ1 onwards)	38.4%
Can’t say either way (to SQ2 onwards)	18.6%
Somewhat uninterested (to SQ2 onwards)	14.9%
Not interested	11.7%

Q1SQ1: Why are you interested in the Sochi Olympics? (Sample size=548, multiple answer)

Expect Japanese athletes to do well	52.0%
Like the Olympics	49.1%
Like a particular sport	31.0%
Can see top-level athletes’ techniques	29.2%
Like sports, winter sports	25.0%
Like a particular athlete	20.6%
It’s a topic of conversation	15.7%
Other	0.4%
No particular reason	1.5%

Q1SQ2: What sports, ceremonies are you interested in at the Sochi Olympics? (Sample size=883, multiple answer)

Figure skate	69.6%
Ski jump	55.0%
Curling	24.1%
Speed skate	22.0%
Opening ceremony	16.2%
Nordic combined (cross-country plus jump)	11.1%
Snowboard	10.9%
Closing ceremony	9.6%
Alpine ski	7.7%
Freestyle ski	6.1%
Ice hockey	6.0%
Bobsleigh	5.1%
Short-track speed skate	5.0%
Luge	3.6%
Cross-country ski	3.3%
Skeleton	2.8%
Biathlon	1.2%
Don’t know, nothing in particular	16.0%

Q1SQ3: What athletes, teams will you be supporting? (Sample size=883, multiple answer, top ten)

Mao Asada (Figure skating)	74.7%
Sara Takanashi (Ski jump)	57.3%
Daisuke Takahashi (Figure skating)	49.4%
Yuzuru Hanya (Figure skating)	47.3%
Noriaki Kasai (Ski jump)	38.5%
Kanako Murakami (Figure skating)	35.1%
Akiko Suzuki (Figure skating)	31.8%
Aiko Uemura (Mogul)	31.4%
Woman’s curling team	28.0%
Tatsuki Machida (Figure skating)	25.9%

Q1SQ4: How many medals do you expect Japan to win at the Sochi Olympics? (Sample size=883)

None	0.9%
One to three	27.0%
Four to six	50.8%
Seven to nine	15.5%
Ten or more	5.8%

Q1SQ5: Where, how do you want to watch, get news, etc regarding the Sochi Olympics? (Sample size=883, multiple answer)

At home watching live on television	66.0%
Watching highlights on the news	52.3%
Reading internet news columns	21.5%
Reading newspaper columns	17.8%
Watching recordings on television	10.4%
Reading posts on Twitter, Facebook, etc	2.2%
Watching live at sports bar, pub, etc	1.7%
Going to Sochi to see in person	1.1%
Watching live at a public viewing	0.7%
Other	0.1%
Don’t plan to watch, follow the news	8.3%

Q2: Which of the following trivia regarding the Sochi Olympics did you know about? (Sample size=1,000, multiple answer)

	Knew	Didn’t know
This is the first time the Winter Olympics have been held in Russia or the Soviet Union	21.6%	78.4%
There is a five-hour time difference to Sochi	10.0%	90.0%
The opening ceremony starts on the 7th of February at 20:14 local time	9.8%	90.2%
There are 98 events, 12 more than at the previous Olympics at Vancouver	4.1%	95.9%
This year there is a new figure skate team event	37.4%	62.6%

Demographics

Between the 13th and 18th of December 2013 1,085 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.8% of the sample were male, 13.5% in their teens, 15.9% in their twenties, 21.7% in their thirties, 17.1% in their forties, 14.6% in their fifties, and 17.2% aged sixty or older.

Here’s one I’d love to have seen, taking place last year just 10 kilometres or so away from me:

I’m not sure how accurate the results of Q1SQ1 are; although the Japanese text used a generic “see” verb rather “watch”, I wonder if many people assumed that the question was directed towards watching live, as the percentages seem a bit off to me. On the other hand, as there does not seem to have been an explanation of the term Projection Mapping, I also wonder if more people saw news reports on projection mapping but didn’t realise what it was?

Research results

Q1: Do you know what Projection Mapping is? (Sample size=1,085)

Yes (to SQs)	36.3%
No	63.7%

Q1SQ1: Have you ever seen a Projection Mapping? (Sample size=394)

Yes	37.3%
No	62.7%

When asked where people had seen them, 71.4% of the 147 people said on television news, advertisement, etc, 40.8% had attended an event in person, and 23.8% watched a video on YouTube or other online sources.

Furthermore, of the 394 people aware of projection mapping, 14 people were also aware of the availability of a smartphone app that allowed people to create their own, and three of these 14 had actually used it, and are the 0.8% in the next table.

Q1SQ2: Would you like to try making a Projection Mapping? (Sample size=394)

Already have	0.8%
Really want to	8.6%
Want to a little	38.3%
Can’t say	18.8%
Don’t want to	33.5%

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 27th of August 2013 1,070 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.6% of the sample were male, 13.6% in their teens, 15.7% in their twenties, 21.7% in their thirties, 17.2% in their forties, 14.7% in their fifities, and 17.1% aged sixty or older.

I’ve not used any Smart Television services, and I probably couldn’t name more than Apple’s, Google’s and docomo’s offerings. My understanding of Smart Television is that the television actually becomes a dumb display, and all the interesting work happens on the connected device. Therefore, the inclusion of television manufacturers in Q1SQ1 and Q1SQ3 seems anomalous to me.

Research results

Q1: Do you know what “Smart Television” is? (Sample size=1,070)

Yes (to SQ1, SQ2)	29.4%
No	70.6%

Q1SQ1: Which “Smart Television” services do you know about? (Sample size=315, multiple answer)

Apple TV	40%
Google TV	34.6%
Panasonic Viera	31.1%
Sony Bravia	27.9%
Toshiba Regza Apps Connect	22.5%
KDDI Smart TV Stick	12.7%
docomo dstick	12.7%
SoftBank Smart TV	11.4%
LG Smart TV	10.8%
Sharp AQUOS City	10.8%
Samsung Smart TV	4.8%
Philips TV	0.6%
Other	0.6%

Q1SQ2: Do you use a “Smart Television” service? (Sample size=315)

Yes (to SQ3)	9.8%
No	85.7%
Don’t have a television	4.4%

Q1SQ3: Which “Smart Television” services do you use? (Sample size=31, multiple answer)

Apple TV	10
Google TV	6
Panasonic Viera	6
Sony Bravia	6
KDDI Smart TV Stick	6
LG Smart TV	4
SoftBank Smart TV	4
Toshiba Regza Apps Connect	3
docomo dstick	3
Samsung Smart TV	2
Philips TV	2
Sharp AQUOS City	2

When these 31 were asked what was attractive about Smart Television, the most popular answers were the ability to get the latest information from the internet and interactive programming.

On the other hand, dissatisfactions were that the Smart Television functionality was unstable, and just that people didn’t really see the value in the whole thing.

Demographics

Between the 7th and 9th of July 2013 1,096 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.5% of the sample were female, 24.4% in their teens, 25.2% in their twenties, 24.8% in their thirties, and 25.6% in their forties; there was no-one older than 49 in this sample. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

Note that the definition of “horror” is a bit loose – I wouldn’t class Psycho and Alien, for instance, as horror, and Sixth Sense was just awful.

Have any of my readers found Japanese horror movies traumatic? I’ve never actually watched any myself, but as for Western movies, Carrie was a bit traumatic for me.

Here is a picture of Japan’s most famous horror character, Sadako:

Ranking result

Q: Which foreign horror films did you find traumatic? (Sample size=1,096)

Rank		Score
1	Friday the 13th	100
2	The Exorcist	71.9
3=	Saw	46.9
3=	The Omen	46.9
5	Resident Evil	41.1
6	Child’s Play	35.9
7	Silence of the Lambs	33.3
8=	Alien	26.6
8=	Evil Dead	26.6
10	Dawn of the Dead	22.9
11	Nightmare on Elm Street	22.4
12	Poltergeist	20.8
13	Misery	13.5
14	Carrie	13.5
15=	The Shining	12.5
15=	The Return of the Living Dead	12.5
17	Sixth Sense	11.5
18	Suspiria	9.9
19=	Psycho	9.4
19=	Paranormal Activity	9.4
21=	Scream	8.3
21=	Flesh for Frankenstein	8.3
23=	Silent Hill	7.8
23=	The Thing	7.8
25=	The Exorcism of Emily Rose	7.3
25=	Rosemary’s Baby	7.3
27	The Texas Chain Saw Massacre	6.2
28	Orphan	5.7
29	The Blair Witch Project	5.2
30	Hell Raiser	4.7
31=	The Experiment	4.2
31=	Parasite	4.2
34=	Eraserhead	3.6
34=	Sleepy Hollow	3.6
34=	Paranormal Activity 2	3.6
34=	Final Destination	3.6
38=	Paranormal Activity 3	3.1
38=	I Know What You Did Last Summer	3.1
38=	Halloween	3.1

Demographics

Between the 19th and 23rd of April 2013 1,098 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.6% of the sample were male, 13.4% in their teens, 15.1% in their twenties, 21.3% in their thirties, 17.6% in their forties, 15.2% in their fifties, and 17.4% aged sixty or older.

I don’t really use these web sites much, as I tend to just visit a few regular places, and these places don’t have coupons that I can use. However, for work events our usual organiser uses mostly Gurunavi, and occasionally Tabelog.

As you can see if you follow the links, Gurunavi is the only place with English, although much of it is machine-translated and -transliterated, so the restaurant names come out rather wonky. Picking one from their selection for the day, it is listed as YAKINIKUDEN YUNIBAHSARUSHITEIWOHKUOOSAKANAITEN, but writing that as “Yakiniku Den Universal City Walk Osaka Naiten” would surely be more understandable!

Research results

Q1: What do you refer to when searching for somewhere to eat or drink? (Sample size=1,098, multiple answer)

Eating and drinking information web site (to SQ1, SQ2, and SQ3)	56.5%
Eating or drinking establishment’s web site (to SQ1)	39.6%
Magazine, newspaper (to SQ1)	23.0%
Television program (to SQ1)	19.6%
Smartphone app (to SQ1 and SQ3)	not stated
None of the above	17.3%
Don’t visit eating or drinking establishments	7.2%

Q1SQ1: What is the most useful reference for establishments that you actually use? (Sample size=892)

Eating and drinking information web site	53.1%
Eating or drinking establishment’s web site	19.1%
Magazine, newspaper	10.5%
Television program	5.7%
Smartphone app	4.3%
Other	7.3%

Q1SQ2: Which gourmet site do you mainly use? (Sample size=620)

GuruNavi	46.8%
Tabelog	35.8%
HotPepper Gourmet	15.3%
Gourmet Pia	0.5%
Gourmet Walker	0.3%
Other	1.3%

Q1SQ3: Why do you use a gourmet information web site, smartphone app? (Sample size=645, multiple answer)

Free to use	73.6%
Lots of users (and comments, ratings)	47.3%
Lots of restaurants listed	44.0%
Covers a wide area	27.9%
Has special coupons	24.3%
Lots of genres of food	20.8%
Can search by number of ratings	20.6%
Lots of photos of food, restaurant interior, etc	19.1%
Other	2.3%

Demographics

Between the 17th and 19th of April 2013 1,079 momembers of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private mobile phone and smartphone-based questionnaire. 57.7% of the sample were female, 3.2% in their teens, 20.3% in their twenties, 37.1% in their thirties, 26.5% in their forties, and 12.9% aged fifty or older.

I watch mobile video occasionally, mostly streaming cat videos from YouTube…

Research results

Q1: How often do you watch video on your mobile phone, smartphone? (Sample size=1,079)

Often (to SQ1)	14.5%
Occasionally (to SQ1)	44.4%
Just once or twice (to SQ1)	27.1%
Never	12.0%
Cannot watch video on mobile phone	2.0%

Q1SQ: What kinds of video do you watch video on your mobile phone, smartphone? (Sample size=927, multiple answer)

Mobile phone streaming	63.3%
Playback of video shot on own phone	33.4%
Mobile phone download	33.0%
Playback of video emailed by friend	11.7%
Video transferred from PC	8.3%
Other	3.3%

Since the first time the survey was conducted in September 2011, the percentage of video watchers has increased steadily. Looking at individual trends, the streaming percentage has remained roughly constant, but the other major categories, playback of own video, of downloaded video, and of emailed video have all been on a downward trend.

Demographics

Between the 8th and 10th of January 2013 1,075 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.6% of the sample were male, 16.4% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.9% in their thirties, 15.8% in their forties, 15.6% in their fifties, and 12.2% aged sixty or older.

Instead of a comic on a mobile phone, let’s have a mobile phone in a comic:

I’ve never read a manga electronically in any form, but coincidentally today at lunchtime I noticed a colleage reading one on a tablet computer.

Research results

First off, the sample were asked if their read manga. 23.1% said they did so regularly, and another 19.6% were irregular readers. This 42.7% (459 people) were then asked the following.

Q1: Do you read manga on a PC, smartphone, other electronic device? (Sample size=459)

Yes, almost every day (to SQ)	6.8%
Yes, sometimes (to SQ)	25.5%
No, never	67.8%

Q1SQ: On what kinds of electronic devices do you read manga? (Sample size=148, multiple answer)

PC	54.7%
Smartphone	45.9%
Tablet	23.0%
Feature phone	10.1%
Other	4.7%

Demographics

Between the 5th and 7th of November 2012 1,049 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.8% of the sample were female, 10.2% in their teens, 14.6% in their twenties, 27.5% in their thirties, 25.1% in their forties, 11.0% in their fifties, and 11.7% 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.

I’ve seen none of the Japanese ones on the list, but I enjoyed Brave, missed Puss in Boots as it had a very limited dubbed release, but I just saw Frankenweenie recently on a plane, and I thought it was really hilarious. I presume it is low scoring because it wasn’t released until after the survey was conducted.

Here’s a trailer for the top film:

Ranking result

Q: What animated or superhero movies of 2012 would you want to recommend to others? (Sample size=1,049)

Rank		Score
1	The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki	100
2	Evangelion Q	80.2
3	Detective Conan – Case Closed: The Eleventh Striker	75.2
4	One Piece Film: Z	68.6
5	Doraemon: Nobita and the Island of Miracles – Animal Adventure	61.2
6	Puss in Boots	59.5
7	Crayon Shin-chan: The Storm Called!: Me and the Space Princess	36.4
8	Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie	33.1
9	A Letter to Momo	30.6
10	Resident Evil: Damnation	28.9
11	Soreike! Anpanman Yomigaere Banana Island	28.1
12	Brave	27.3
13	The Lorax	24.0
14=	Library War: The Wings of Revolution	23.1
14=	Space Sheriff Gavan: The Movie	23.1
16=	Pocket Monsters Best Wish	17.4
16=	009 RE：CYBORG	17.4
16=	Blue Exorcist The Movie	17.4
19	Berzerk: Ougon Jidai Hen II Dordorei Kouryaku	16.5
20=	Magic Tree House	15.7
20=	Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger vs. Space Sheriff Gavan: The Movie	15.7
22	Kamen Rider x Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen	14.9
23	Kamen Rider Fourze the Movie: Everyone, Space Is Here!	14.0
24	Tiger and Bunny The Beginning	13.2
25=	Guskou Budori no Denki	11.6
25=	Kamen Rider x Kamen Rider Wizard & Fourze: Movie War Ultimatum	11.6
27=	Movie Smile Pretty Cure! Ehon no Naka wa Minna Chiguhagu!	10.7
27=	Macross FB7 Ginga Ryukon Ore no Uta wo Kike!	10.7
29=	Movie Pretty Cure All Stars New Stage – Mirai no tomodachi	9.9
29=	Magical Girl Lyrical NANOHA The MOVIE 2nd A’s	9.9
29=	Frankenweenie	9.9
32	Nerawareta Gakuen	7.4
33	Ultraman Saga	5.8
34	Fairy Tail the Movie: The Phoenix Priestess	5.0
35	Naruto the Movie: Road to Ninja	4.1

Demographics

Between the 5th and 9th of November 2012 1,086 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.0% of the sample were male, 16.2% in their teens, 18.2% in their twenties, 21.5% in their thirties, 16.0% in their forties, and 28.1% aged fifty or older.

One possible reason for the increase in television watching might be more to do with the depressed economy and people spending more time at home, thus it’s not that digital makes programmes any better, it’s that people cannot afford to do much else.

The survey ends by noting that it would be nice if the focus of the survey could move to consumption of contents; broadcast versus recorded versus on demand versus YouTube, for example.

Research results

First, people were asked what kinds of terrestrial digital television receivers they had. The most popular option was 84.4% with a terrestrial digital television, then 21.8% with a terrestrial digital recorder, 18.5% used cable television, 15.3% had One Seg (mobile phone, etc) decoders, and so on. Overall, 97.4% had some form of terrestrial digital television device.

Q: How has your time spent watching television changed since getting terrestrial digital? (Sample size=1,086)

Very much increased	6.7%
Somewhat increased	19.4%
Not changed, don’t know	60.5%
Somewhat decreased	7.9%
Very much decreased	2.9%
Cannot watch digital TV	2.6%