世論 What Japan Thinks

In the survey on Skype I translated in July, I bemoaned the fact that there was no information about who people were calling, so I was glad to see japan.internet.com report on another survey about Skype, this time from iBridge Research.

Demographics

On the 27th of July 2009 300 members of the iBridge research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.0% of the sample were male, 10.0% in their twenties, 38.3% in their thirties, 38.0% in their forties, 10.3% in their fifties, and 3.3% in their sixties.

I encountered my first serious problem with Skype last week. I needed to phone a UK free dial number, so I called up on Skype, and even though I was within office hours I got a recorded message saying that the office was closed and to call back the next day. However, I used my mobile instead and got through straight away, which was rather annoying.
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2ch is an enormous (the largest in the world, in fact) bulletin board system with an interface that looks as it hasn’t changed since dial-up BBSes were all the rage. This survey from RealWorld RealResearch and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at 2ch, with a particular focus on tools for reading 2ch a bit more efficiently.

Demographics

Over the 22nd and 23rd of July 2009 1,014 members of the RealWorld RealResearch monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.1% of the sample were male, 8.5% in their teens, 7.7% in their twenties, 11.4% in their thirties, 37.5% in their forties, 19.5% in their fifties, and 15.4% aged sixty or older.

Amongst the English-speaking foreigner community, it is perhaps the more seedy and rabidly right-wing corners of 2ch that are best-known, although whenever someone mentions this there’s usually someone else who pops up to tell us of the wonders of the other portions of the site. I occassionally try to find these parts, but I’m afraid the ugliness of the site defeats me every time!
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This recent survey from Point On Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into mobile spam found that almost half of all Japanese are getting multiple mobile spams per day.

Demographics

On the 21st of June 2009 800 members of the Point On Research monitor panel completed a private mobile phone-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, 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 fiftise.

Note that in May a similar survey found a smaller percentage of people getting mobile spam email, but goo Research’s panel is primarily PC internet-based, whereas this sample is for mobile users, who tend to be heavy users, thus more exposure to sites that might be inclined to spam.
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Here’s an interesting little survey from Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com into gourmet site usage.

Demographics

Between the 9th and 12th of July 2009 300 members of the Marsh monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was split exactly 50:50 male and female, 1.7% of the sample were in their teens, 18.3% 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.

I use the word “gourmet” above as the Japanese also use that loan word to describe eating out, although perhaps it does sound a bit too fancy in English.

I personally only rarely used Guru-navi (an abbreviation of an approximation of “gourmet navigation”), and only when I have a specific restaurant in mind and want to check for discount coupons! They have a small English sub-site, if you want to check that out – note none of the others linked below have an English version.
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Skype, a mostly free internet telephony application, is one of these internet utilities that I feel not enough people know about, so I’m glad to have this opportunity to translate a survey from RealWorld RealResearch and reported on by japan.internet.com looking at Skype, of course.

Demographics

Over the 8th and 9th of July 2009 1,016 members of the RealWorld RealResearch monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 63.5% of the sample were male, 8.1% in their teens, 17.5% in their twenties, 12.8% in their thirties, 28.8% in their forties, 19.5% in their fifties, and 13.3% aged sixty or older.

One handy feature for people in Japan is that US and UK freephone numbers can be called for free, a feature I’ve made use of a few times.

I’d have liked to have seen in Q2 a breakdown between free and paid usage of voice calling in Skype, but perhaps if one pays for the full survey results one could see a more detailed answer.

Note that outside of smartphones none (as far as I am aware) of the Japanese-manufactured mobile phones support Skype.
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Despite having over 300 followers (I’m shocked, not boasting about it!) I still don’t really see the point, as do most Japanese, according to this survey from iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com into Twitter.

Demographics

On the 6th of July 2009 300 members of the iBridge monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.3% of the sample were female, 19.0% in their twenties, 39.0% in their thirties, 26.7% in their forties, 10.7% in their fifties, and 4.7% in their sixties.

I did once try Twitter from my Japanese mobile but it was through a bit of a dodgy web page script. Searching around the Japanese web I have come across an interesting site, in Japanese, of course; the using Twitter from a mobile phone Wiki, which includes a section with a number of iAppli for docomo applications that can be used to access Twitter. I should download a couple and review them!

Other surveys on Twitter may be found by following that link.
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Considering how wired the country is, with the lowest cost/performance ratio for consumers in the world, the lack of availability of public wifi always surprises me; this recent survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into wireless LANs shows ignorance of their very existance is still quite high.

Demographics

Between the 17th and 21st of June 2009 1,079 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.9% of the sample were male, 16.1% in their teens, 18.4% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 12.0% aged sixty or older.

In Q3 it’s perhaps surprising to my overseas readers that games machines were the most popular device other than laptops that were used to connect to wifi hotspots, but to residents here, especially anyone who has visited a Pokemon Centre (the third most popular tourist attraction in Japan!) and seen the numbers hanging out with their DSes. In addition, McDonalds have recently announced wifi hotspots in their restaurants for DS owners.
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The headline figure is not really surprising to me, partially because it has taken so long to get a survey out on the new search engine Bing from Microsoft, this one being conducted by iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

On the 22nd of June 2009 300 members of the iBridge monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. There was no split by the the sexes listed for some reason, but 12.0% of the respondents were in their twenties, 36.0% in their thirties, 37.3% in their forties, 10.3% in their fifties, and 4.7% in their sixties.

I’ve tried Bing a few times, but I suppose I’m just too much of a Google fan to look objectively at it.

As for the name, the first thing I think of is a bing, a mountain of slag from a coal mine. The second is Bing Hitler, who now seems to be doing rather nice for himself as a host on a US late-night chat show.
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First, an apology for What Japan Thinks being down again earlier today. I’ve got something strange going on at my host.

Now, on to the survey; MyVoice took a look at email newsletter usage.

Demographics

Over the first five days of June 2009 14,939 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 1% in their teens, 15% in their twenties, 37% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 18% aged fifty or older.

I am probably signed up to about ten or so newsletters, but most of them I don’t look at. About the only one I really do pay attention to is from Flying Blue (KLM and Air France mileage card) as they quite often have decent promotional offers. My wife also forwards the Mister Donuts mail to me which usually has nice discount coupons.
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I do like the word faffing, but a more literal and correct translation of the title of this survey from MyVoice would be filling free time with mobile content.

Demographics

Over the first five days of June 2009 exactly 15,000 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online 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 save up all my faffing about for the PC internet; the only mobile internet I use is the very occasional dictionary and the even more occasional downloading of deco-mail artwork.

I must apologise for Q6, as it’s a horribly convoluted question, but I hope it makes sense!
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