世論 What Japan Thinks

Despite the recent survey showing a distinct lack of interest in podcasting, this survey reported on by japan.internet.com and conducted by JR Tokai Express Research Inc into portable digital audio players shows about 55% of Japanese own suitable players.

Demographics

On the 25th of May 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research monitor group employed in the private sector completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 72.1% of the sample were male, 13.0% were in their twenties, 40.0% in their thirties, 33.0% in their forties, 11.8% in their fifties, and 2.1% in their sixties.

I’ve got in the mood for using a portable player again, although my memories of the Sony hard disk Walkman that managed to lose track of most of my content twice is still fresh in my memory. However, I can’t be bothered with the hassle of it all, and I do remember that it made the train ride to work less fulfilling and more stressful. This could probably be accounted for by the player transporting me into my own private world, but due to train noises and other leakage of sound into my ears, I could never quite reach there. Despite someone standing over me right now waving a fan just at the edge of my vision with his incessant fap-fap-fap and occassional brushing of the fan against his suit, and another guy slurping from a smelly cardboard pack of one-cup sake, and a third with ciggie breath, I can cope better by facing it rather than trying to hide behind a wall of sound.
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One of the nice things about having a big archive of surveys is that when a survey like this one from JR Tokai Express Research Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com into the matter of mobile phone batteries comes along, I can point you at the results of a similar survey from last year and the year before.

Demographics

Between the 20th and 23th of May 2008 325 members of the JR Tokai Express Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.2% of the sample were female, 20.6% were in their twenties, 38.5% in their thirties, 26.8% in their forties, 9.2% in their fifties, and 4.9% in their sixties.

I usually recharge at work these days, with a USB adaptor thingie I got free at a conference once. It’s a wonderfully handy device, and it’s easier to remember to do it at work rather than at home. What I should also buy sometime is a clockwork recharger, or perhaps even this interesting one from Strapya, the solar-powered recharger. It looks really cool, and a snip at 1,995 yen! I don’t know how well it would work with overseas phones though.
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I’ve only really heard of PLC through work, as other departments produce a quite successful range of devices. PLC, or Power Line Communication, is communicating over domestic power lines. It’s a cheap and easy way to network and free from the security issues associated with wireless, although prone to noise from other electrical devices. To see what is going on in the average Japanese home, goo Research conducted a survey, reported on by japan.internet.com, into PLC.

Demographics

Between the 10th and 12th of April 2008 1,098 members of the goo Research online monitor group successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.8% of the sample was male, 17.8% in their teens, 19.2% in their twenties, 15.8% in their thirties, 16.9% in their forties, 18.2% in their fifties, and 12.1% aged sixty or older.

PLC really is quite idiot-proof, I hear. Just plug both ends into an available socket, connect one end to your internet line, the other to your PC, and Bob’s your uncle. Transmission speeds are up to 100 Mbps, so I hear.

I personally don’t need PLC, as my home came wired with hot and cold running broadband in every room.
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As the amount of free minutes bundled with mobile phones in Japan are limited, indeed it never seems to be a feature of advertising, but on the other hand many people rely on email rather than voice to communicate, this survey reported on by japan.internet.com and conducted by JR Tokai Express Research Inc into fixed line phones reveals something about what choices people have made.

Demographics

On the 11th of April 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research online monitor panel successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 71.2% were male (a high percentage given that this is not their usual employee-only style survey), 0.6% were in their teens, 17.6% were in their twenties, 42.7% in their thrties, 30.0% in their forties, 8.2% in their fifties, and 0.9% in their sixties.

I’ve not used a public phone for years in Japan, although the mother-in-law does quite often call when she is out. Perhaps we ought to buy her one of these old folk mobile phones and put her on the family plan so we can call freely. However, I don’t think the call volumes justify it, as we have an extremely cheap fixed-line phone plan, so even regular one hour phone calls rarely run up enough of a bill to justify the phone rental costs.
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With Toshiba having thrown in the towel on HD DVD leaving the market for next-generation high-capacity optical storage to the Blu-ray consortium of manufacturers, what will the consumer do? This recent survey reported on by japan.internet.com and conducted by JR Tokai Express Research Inc into Toshiba’s withdrawl of HD DVD tried to find out.

Demographics

On the 11th of March 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research online monitor group employed in either the public or private sector completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 83.0% of the sample was male, 10.9% in their twenties, 40.3% in their thirties, 35.2% in their forties, 10.9% in their fifties, and 2.7% in their sixties.

I’m surprised in Q1 that almost three times as many in this sample bought an HD DVD rather than a Blu-ray player. Was it only overseas that HD DVD died? I’ll have to look into that…
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Round about the time of the release of the Nintendo DS there was a lot of buzz about the new demographics they were reaching, in particular how the range of brain training software was selling well in the older market segment. To see what the situation is these says, goo Research, in conjuction with AllAbout Japan, surveyed the “Mrs” demographic about their use of digital items and game machines.

Demographics

Over the 17th and 18th of December 2007 1,076 members of the goo Research online monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The “Mrs” demographic was married women between the ages of 50 and 69, with 33.9% aged between 50 and 54, 33.9% between 55 and 59, and 32.2% in their sixties.

I remember once trying to tempt my mother into gaming with The Hobbit on the Sinclair Spectrum, but I can’t say it was much of a success at all. However, the brain training games would be fun for her, perhaps, or even if they weren’t I could play them instead…
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With cellphones getting more and more features packed into them, here’s an interesting survey reported on by japan.internet.com and conducted by goo Research into cellphone input devices.

Demographics

Between the 15th and 17th of February 2008 1,092 members of goo Research’s online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.2% were male, 16.4% in their teens, 18.0% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 16.4% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 11.7% aged sixty or older.

I think a full keyboard is nice to have, but none of the ones I’ve seen seem to be practical, as the keys are all far too tightly spaced, rendering the device pretty useless. A fingerprint reader is popular here, perhaps with people thinking about the security aspect, although compared to using a PIN, I don’t really think there is much of a benefit. The acceleration sensor is for motion games, and features on some of the 905i series of phones from NTT DoCoMo, but I cannot really see the practical use at all.
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This is an interesting recent survey reported on by cNet Japan and conducted by goo Research into the topic of the use of cameras by seniors.

Demographics

Over the 6th and 7th of February 2008 1,001 members of the goo Research monitor pool aged over sixty were interviewed by means of a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.4% were male, and 69.3% were in their sixties, 15.9% aged seventy or older. Note that since this was internet-based, all were internet users by definition. In addition, as a control sample over the same period 174 people in their thirties, 51.7% female, were asked the same questions.

Not falling into either of the age groups it’s difficult for me to comment, but one thing I thought initially was that the number of SLR users is low as I always see a few old people with big cameras whenever I go to parks, but then I realised that it’s just selective recall, as one remembers a big camera.
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I’m the odd one out in the office as just about everyone else uses their portable computer rather than their desktop as their main computer for less compute-intensive tasks such as email, document preparation, etc. This perhaps is a common situation in other offices too, given the results of a survey reported on by japan.internet.com and conducted by JR Tokai Express Research Inc into notebook computers and mobility.

Demographics

Over the 6th and 7th of February 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research monitor panel employed in either the private or public sector completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 83.9% were male, 9.7% in their twenties, 38.8% in their thirties, 34.8% in their forties, 13.6% in their fifties, and 3.0% in their sixties.

Q1SQ1 should be read with care, as it is not where people habitually use their notebook computers, but just places that they have. For example, 18% say they use theirs when commuting, but it doesn’t mean that one in five people in the morning rush train are typing away; it’s rare (once a week or less?) that I see anyone else typing away on the train, whether it be packed or empty.
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With almost all new cellphones now having a memory card slot with media costs dropping drastically, and listening to music on phones becoming more popular, here’s an interesting survey reported on by japan.internet.com and conducted by JR Tokai Express Research Inc into the topic of cellphone memory card usage.

Demographics

On the 13th of February 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research online monitor group employed in either the private or public sector completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 83.9% of the sample was male, 10.9% in their twenties, 38.5% in their thirties, 39.4% in their forties, 8.8% in their fifties, and 2.4% in their sixties.

A year and a half ago (summer 2006) a similar question was asked, and at that time 128 MB was the most popular size, so that’s a quite impressive factor of 8 larger.
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