世論 What Japan Thinks

I rent a car about twice or thrice a year, and did in fact win a free one day rental of a Voxy from Toyota Rent-a-Car recently, and this summer I finally applied for an ETC, Electronic Toll Collection, card that interfaces with the box in all Toyota rental cars to allow you to automatically pay the tolls. The first time we used it we got two 200 yen refunds for a 700 yen charge, which was nice. If you want to rent from Toyota (a bit expensive, but their cars are very nicely turned out and all have car navi, and the Prius especially is a really pleasant drive) I advice applying online for a Hertz #1 Card, as you’ll get a 10% discount and with three rentals in Japan a year you get upgraded to gold status (I hope!) and nice bonuses if you rent in Europe or the US. Today’s survey is from DIMSDRIVE Research and is about not car rental, but ETC.

Demographics

Between the 14th and 22nd of November 2007 7,287 members of the DIMSDRIVE Research monitor panel who had a car for private use completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.8% of the sample was female, 0.9% in their teens, 16.2% in their twenties, 37.1% in their thirties, 28.1% in their forties, 12.8% in their fifties, and 4.9% aged sixty or older.

Note that there are two components needed to use the ETC system; first, you need a card reader and transmitter to talk to the toll gate, then you need a special ETC card, usually tied to either your bank account or credit card account. Some credit card companies add the ETC functionality to a credit card, but others issue separate cards.

There’s one big puzzle regarding a highway near me; if you ever watch or listen to the traffic news during holiday periods there is always a report of 20 or 30 km tailbacks on the Chuugoku Highway at the Takarazuka Tunnel near Osaka. Having traversed this area, I can report that almost every time I go through that tunnel there is some sort of slowness. However, there are no turn-offs at that point and the road doesn’t narrow, dip or twist drastically, so why is that point a bottleneck? Last year I saw an in-train advertisement magazine with a teaser headline asking “Why is there always a traffic jam at the Takarazuka Tunnel?”, but I never bothered to buy a copy, so I am still scratching my head.
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japan.internet.com recently reported on another of these fascinating (for suitable values of fascinating) snippets of Japanese consumer behaviour as uncovered by a survey conducted by goo Research into digital cameras, focusing on camera modes in particular.

Demographics

Between the 7th and 9th of December 2007 1,097 members of the goo Research online monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.0% were male, 16.6% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.7% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.6% in their fifties, and 11.8% aged sixty or older.

I use my digital camera in full auto, full silent mode on the whole, but I’ve tweaked the quality down to perhaps medium level; 3 mega-pixels instead of 5 mega-pixels, but high quality mode to try to save a bit of space on the memory cards, although having both a 1 gigabyte and a 512 megabyte card makes this a rather academic exercise. One of the answers for Q2 mentions “Scene Mode”; many cameras have multiple modes for specific situations, not just night, scenery and flash modes, but also close-up, food, baby and I think even pet mode too, although I haven’t studied my instruction manual in sufficient depth to work out what they all do, so just leaving it in auto mode covers 95% of the situations sufficiently.
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With the Sharp AQUOS keitai outselling all others, is it the television that is boosting the cell phone or the cell phone boosting the television? This is a question that intrigues me, but unfortunately that question has little to do with today’s translation of a survey by MyVoice into flat screen televisions.

Demographics

Over the first five days of November 2007 19,700 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample was female, 2% in their teens, 16% in their twenties, 37% in their thirties, 28% in their forties, and 17% in their fifties.

Carrying on that thought about brand symbiosis between mobile phones and televisions, Panasonic finally launched its Viera brand mobile phone, the P905i, which according to reports I’ve heard is the top-seller, and in fact is selling faster than they can build them, from the new DoCoMo range of phones, despite being a wallet-busting 52,000 yen, which when converted to dollars is more than an iPhone, and when you then add in that an unlimited packet contract is about 4,000 yen, and the base contract price plus essential extras like the answering phone and iMode access adds up to around 3,000 yen, putting you at around about 60 US dollars per month, which does not include any free minutes, although there are loyalty discounts that should be factored in; up to 50% off for 10 year customers.

But I digress. Back at flat screen televisions, the survey results were as follows.
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With many Japanese companies paying winter bonuses at the end of week, this might be a good time to look at a recent survey reported on japan.internet.com and conducted by Cross Marketing Inc into portable games machines.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of November 2007 300 members of the Cross Marketing online monitor group successfully competed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was split exactly 50:50 male and female in each age group. These age groups were 20.0% in their teens, 20.0% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, and 20.0% in their fifties.

As I’ve probably mentioned too many times already (perhaps I should make an Amazon wish list so you can all buy me a present?) I really want to get the new red and black DS Lite. I have two Japanese learning titles waiting for me at home! Perhaps this weekend…?

One of the reasons, perhaps, for the good PSP figures in Q3 is that, as one can see from Q1, a lot of people already have a DS or DS Lite, therefore wanting a PSP makes sense. However, how many of them will actually go out and spend the money is open to debate.

Finally, in Q2, I get the impression that DS Lites are now in sufficient stock almost everywhere, but perhaps with the end of year spending spree coming up, it will get difficult to get your hands on again? You may want to cross-reference these figures with a similar question asked in March this year.
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Earlier this year, the Japan Recording-Media Industries Association announced that last year’s sales were below predicted numbers, and they think it will be 2010 before the market flourishes. One reason for this is the confusion between the standards, Blu-ray Disc versus HD DVD, with consumers delaying their purchases to avoid being stuck with another Betamax. To learn what people thought of the situation, japan.internet.com reported on a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research Inc into next-generation DVD.

Demographics

On the 26th of November 2007 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research online monitor group employed in either the public or private sector successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 82.1% of the sample was male, 8.5% in their twenties, 40.3% in their thirties, 33.6% in their forties, 14.2% in their fifties, and 3.3% in their sixties.

Another reason is perhaps the lack of clear user benefits from upgrading from DVD; on a good system, the higher quality of the next generation is really obvious, but for those with lower-end television the desire to upgrade just their media player is not present. However, this aspect was not addressed in the survey below. Also missing from the report below is details on how many of the owners have stand-alone players versus PS3, Xbox or computer drive owners.

Personally, I’ve no plans to buy either format, not that I watch many DVDs anyway.
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I couldn’t do this web site without Jim Breen’s WWWJDIC close at hand to help me out whenever I get stuck. I can’t remember the last time I actually picked up a paper dictionary, although my Canon Wordtank portable electronic dictionary also sees a lot of action. I’ve got a translation tool at the office, but it’s so hefty it’s impractical to use for single word look up. To find out what the average Japanese person does, japan.internet.com reported on a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research Inc into portable electronic dictionaries.

Demographics

On the 14th of November 2007 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research online monitor pool employed in either public or private enterprises successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 82.7% of the sample was male, 8.2% in their twenties, 38.8% in their thirties, 39.1% in their forties, 10.9% in their fifties, and 3.0% in their sixties.

Talking of dictionaries, perhaps one of the best Japanese-English ones (especially if you already have a DS) is the Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten DS pictured above, as you get full pen input for a start, a feature found in none bar the most expensive specialised portable electronic dictionaries.
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I thought this suvey might have been better with a title like “Japanese cell phone strap usage”, but in the interests of truth in advertising, the headline you see gets straight to the point of this article! japan.internet reported on a recent survey conducted by goo Research into not buying cute cell phone straps from Japan but actually just mobile phone straps.

Demographics

Between the 2nd and 5th of November 2007 1,007 members of goo Research’s online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.9% were male, 18.1% in their teens, 20.2% in their twenties, 17.1% in their thirties, 17.0% in their forties, 16.9% in their fifties, and 10.8% aged sixty or older.

My own phone features straps featuring Monokuro Boo cubic pigs, a regional comedian, Hello Kitty (of course!), Miffy, Totoro, and a teddy bear. Really, I’m not making this up just to get you to buy cute cell phone straps from Japan.

Also note that the iPhone doesn’t have a eyelet to allow you to attach kawaii Japanese mobile phone straps to it, a mistake I think they must rectify to make it a success in Japan.

In the interests of disclosure, I ought to point out that this article may contain affiliate links, not that you couldn’t have guessed based on all the links trying to sell kawaii cell phone straps from Japan.
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japan.internet.com recently reported on a survey conducted by Cross Marketing Inc into portable digital musics players. Note that this survey is concerned with just hard disk or memory-based specialised music players; CDs and MDs are excluded, as are mobile phones with music playback capabilities, and PDAs.

Demographics

Over the 24th and 25th of October 2007 300 members of Cross Marketing Inc’s online monitor pool who owned a portable digital music player successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.0% of the sample was male, 20.0% in their teens, 20.0% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, and 20.0% in their fifties.

I don’t really think there is much new in this survey, but I present it just as another data point that ilustrates Apple’s strength in the Japanese marketplace.
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As most Apple and iPhone watchers are aware, shortly after releasing the iPhone at $600 they dropped the price to $400, although they did give refund vouchers to many customers. The press thought little of it, although I did not see any statistics to suggest how the average US resident felt. To find out what the average Japanese person felt looking in from the outside, japan.internet.com reported on a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research Inc into Apple’s brand image, and in this article focusing on the iPhone pricing.

Demographics

On the 25th of October 2007 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research monitor panel employed in either the public or private sectores completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 81.8% of the sample was male, 9.4% were in their twenties, 40.9% in their thirties, 37.9% in their forties, 9.1% in their fifties, and 2.7% in their sixties.

As I have no intention of purchasing an iPhone myself, I can’t say I really felt much about their strategy, and given how many fanboys Apple seems to have, I couldn’t really understand the need to cut the price so early.
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My cell phone camera sees rare use, mostly when wifey borrows it to take pictures of food or me when she’s forgotten her own phone. One use she puts her own camera phone to is taking a photograph of the weather forecast on the television then forwarding it to me. I’m sure there must be better ways of letting me know what the weather will be like, but since we can send mails for free, it works for both of us! To see what the average person gets up to, MyVoice looked at the use of mobile phone still and motion cameras.

Demographics

Over the first five days of September 2007 13,602 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample was female, 2% in their teens, 17% in their twenties, 40% in their thirties, 27% in their forties, and 14% in their fifties.

Both wifey and I have memory cards for our cell phones; in fact, she has a one gigabyte micro SD card which finds more use as an extra card for our main digital camera, but neither of us use the card for day-to-day storage, only for exporting (never importing!) photographs. Indeed, it would be interesting to find out how other people use their memory cards.
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