世論 What Japan Thinks

Recently japan.internet.com reported on goo Research’s 13th regular survey into terrestrial digital television broadcasts.

Demographics

Between the 26th of February and 3rd of March 2010 1,072 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.4% in their teens, 18.3% in their twenties, 21.5% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.5% in their fifties, and 12.0% aged sixty or older.

I’m one of the people not using the advanced features of digital broadcasts, as She Who Must Be Obeyed won’t let me anywhere near the remote! She uses the EPG-based programming herself a lot, as our digital receiver is our Diga.
Read the rest of this entry »

I’m in the wrong business – I should instead by promoting fortune telling, as according to this recent survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com a not insignificant percentage of computer users have paid real money for a reading.

Demographics

Between the 4th and 6th of March 2010 1,075 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.5% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 17.6% in their twenties, 20.7% in their thirties, 16.6% in their forties, 16.2% in their fifties, and 12.5% aged sixty or older.

I was very tempted to insert an advertisement for some kind of paid fortune telling service, but sadly my morals overrode my wallet, although I wouldn’t be surprised if Google overrides both of them and sticks some suitable astrology adverts along with this post…
Read the rest of this entry »

As I read mostly English-language web sites and having heard stories such as 40% of US purchases being bigital, when I came across this survey from Media Interactive, reported on by japan.internet.com, into music, I was quite surprised to see the data for Japan, especially since this is an internet-based sample that would be expected to have a bias towards online shopping.

Demographics

Over the 1st and 2nd of March 2010 exactly 1,000 regular music listeners completed an internet-based questionnaire. 50.6% of the sample were male, 0.3% in their teens, 15.8% in their twenties, 30.7% in their thirties, 28.9% in their forties, 16.2% in their fifties, and 8.1% in their sixties.

In Q3 I’m quite surprised that radio is grouped into the “other” category, and although streaming sites seem to be popular in the UK and the USA, they don’t get a mention here – do they in fact exist in Japan? Additionally, the number of freetards seems comparatively rather low.
Read the rest of this entry »

As if Japanese television wasn’t mindless enough (there are good shows, but even the good shows are cheap time-fillers), nearly half of the respondents to iShare’s survey into Twitter and television thought the two make a fun mix.

Demographics

Between the 9th and 15th of February 2010 516 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.2% of the sample were male, 30.4% in their twenties, 33.7% in their thirties, and 35.9% in their forties.

Even worse, about two in five fancied Twittering with the people on the box. I’ve seen a couple of late-night programmes that feature the people in the studio checking emails for topics, and it’s incredibly boring just watching the top of someone’s head as they mutter at a monitor trying to summarise a message.
Read the rest of this entry »

goo Research recently conducted their third regular survey into consumer games machines, and the report on japan.internet.com had some interesting data regarding piracy.

Demographics

Between the 25th and 27th of January 2010 1,056 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-base questionnaire. 52.9% of the sample were male, 16.4% in their teens, 17.7% in their twenties, 21.7% in their thirties, 16.2% in the forties, and 28.0% aged fifty or older.

Previously I’ve mentioned that I felt surveys covering P2P piracy had under-reported the piracy issue, so I’m very surprised to see so large a self-reported figure here for console piracy. I’m not really too sure of the best way to interpret the difference.

It’s interesting to compare the results here with those from last November.
Read the rest of this entry »

With the Winter Olympics due to open on the 12th (or 13th Japan time), here’s a timely survey from iShare into the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Demographics

Between the 19th and 22nd of January 2010 497 members of the CLUb BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.8% of the sample were male, 33.2% in their twenties, 30.4% in their thirties, and 36.4% in their forties.

There’s been two interesting bits of news about Japanese athletes: first, Miho Takagi, the 15 year old speed skater with the unfortunately-designed outfit, has been mentioned on the news as much regarding her chance to be able to use English as her actual skating, then a lead story on one channel today was Kazuhiro Kokubo, the halfpipe snowboarder, getting banned from Japan’s welcoming ceremony for being sloppy-dressed at Narita airport, having – shock-horror – a loose tie and his shirt tails hanging out.

The Olympic committee have set a target of 10 medals for Vancouver, but 85% think Japan will get four or less…
Read the rest of this entry »

For a change, this recent survey from iShare into music downloading laws found a significant number willing to admit their thievery.

Demographics

Between the 5th and 8th of January 2010 443 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.7% of the sample were male, 30.7% were in their twenties, 30.7% in their thirties, and 38.6% in their forties.

As I’m not the sort of person who downloads music willy-nilly just for the sake of filling up their iPod, I’ve never downloaded more than just a dodgy track or two. I’m probably also being a fuddy-duddy by saying that the iPod and said illegal downloading just because one can is a behaviour I cannot condone in the slightest, and I’m sure in some way contributes towards the youth of today having the attention span of a goldfish. I used to play just the one CD or tape for about a week or more, but when I last had my hands on a SonyPod, I found myself filling it up with all my CDs then spending more time skipping than listening. Oh, and the software was useless and at least twice wiped its own database.

Anyway, back to the survey. This month the law has changed such that downloading illegally uploaded contents is now illegal.
Read the rest of this entry »

Recently goo Research looked at television in a survey reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

On the 16th of December 2009 1,061 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.6% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.1% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.6% in their fifties, and 12.3% aged sixty or older.

I’ve just got a rather old tube-based television at home, and the wife has a One Seg mobile phone, but she only watches it once in a blue moon, especially as it doesn’t have an external aerial so even when perfectly still it’s difficult to get a signal, and it’s almost unwatchable on the train.

Built-in televisions in bathrooms are a great gimmick that I could be persuaded to go for, even though my eyesight’s so bad I don’t think I could see anything if we were to get one!

Oh, and just in case you’re wondering, yes, Japanese televisions are measured in inches.
Read the rest of this entry »

With Avatar in 3D in the cinemas and doing rather well, and a big push from television makers towards getting 3D into the living room, I’m surprised that it’s taken quite this long for a survey on 3D to appear.

Demographics

Between the 2nd and 7th of December 2009 541 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.6% of the sample were male, 35.1% in their twenties, 28.75 in their thirties, and 36.2% in their forties.

I went to see Up (or “Old Man Carl’s House Flies in the Sky”, as it was rendered in Japanese) in 3D and the glasses were rather uncomfortable, and I had to spend periods of time holding them away from the bridge of my nose as they hurt. I also failed to appreciate any 3D whatsoever, except for background blurring in one or two scenes. I later went to see Avatar in 2D as I didn’t fancy another two and half hours of the specs.
Read the rest of this entry »

Not being a member of the biggest SNS in Japan, mixi appli (ie applets), the subject of this survey from goo research and reported on by japan.internet.com, are a total unknown to me, but they appear to be widgets that one can decorate one’s mixi page with.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 25th of December 2009 1,085 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.4% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 18.2% in their twenties, 21.3% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.7% in their fifties, and 12.1% aged sixty or older.

I cannot really say much about mixi appli, although Asiajin has an article on it, and there’s an interesting story behind Facebook games and their business model. I don’t know how the monetising of mixi appli compares to that though.
Read the rest of this entry »