世論 What Japan Thinks

goo Research carried out their eighth survey into web-based mail service opinions, in conjuction with Anchor Research and japan.internet.com. 1,065 people from goo’s internet montior group replies to the poll questions, 41.41% male, and 40.75% in their thirties.

I use web mail rather heavily – in fact my mail for this domain is managed through a webmail service, autoforwarded to GMail, where I then pick it up, along with two other mail boxes. My permanent mail address is reserved for non-blog-related spam. Note that in Q7 below I discover data that significantly disagrees with that obtained from a previous survey regarding New Year cards.
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Forgive the horrendously punny headline with a rather naff neologism, but MyVoice recently conducted a survey of their MyVoice internet community here in Japan to find out their views regarding Social Networking Services (SNS). 15,537 people, 60% female, completed the web-based opinion poll, with almost four in ten of the respondents being in their thirties.

Speaking personally, I’ve never really been into online communities, and even when I seriously played MMRPGs, I kept friendships at purely functional levels in-game, and although I was more outgoing on message boards, I never moved to private messaging or email, let alone anything more serious. I get the impression that mixi and others do appeal to the demographic that are looking for “anything more serious”, though! It’s interesting that people would much, much prefer to invite real-life friends, though.
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[part 1] [part 2]

goo Research recently carried out a massive opinion poll to investigate how people in Japan use internet banking.In cooperation with NTT Resonance and Mitsubishi Research Institute they surveyed 43,074 members of the goo Research internet monitor group and ordinary goo users. This public poll was conducted for two weeks in the middle of October, with 56.0% of the respondents female. 2.2% were in their teens, 23.3% in their twenties, 40.4% in their thirties, 23.8% in their forties, 7.8% in their fifties, 2.1% in their sixties, and just 0.4% over seventy.

It seems that both conventional banks’ net services and net-only banks do not give any significant discounts on transaction fees – Japan still has lots of fees for doing almost anything outside working hours or more complicated than withdrawning money – but even with that worries about security, which is probably as much due to perceptions as actual danger, need to be addressed to give potential customers the assurance that the services are safe.
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[part 1] [part 2]

goo Research recently carried out a massive opinion poll to investigate how people in Japan use internet banking.In cooperation with NTT Resonance and Mitsubishi Research Institute they surveyed 43,074 members of the goo Research internet monitor group and ordinary goo users. This public poll was conducted for two weeks in the middle of October, with 56.0% of the respondents female. 2.2% were in their teens, 23.3% in their twenties, 40.4% in their thirties, 23.8% in their forties, 7.8% in their fifties, 2.1% in their sixties, and just 0.4% over seventy.

I am unsure whether or not PayPal counts as a net-only bank, or even if it, or an equivalent system, is popular is Japan. However, it seems internet-only banks are surprisingly popular (although since this is an internet-based survey there is some built-in bias), but if bricks and mortar banks offered transaction fee discounts for online usage, perhaps they could seriously erode the net-only banks’ customer base. It’s interesting, given that one of Koizumi’s pledges has been to do away with silly rules for the sake of it, that it seems that net banks cannot be used for utilities payments or lottery ticket purchase. My bank back home, first direct, has internet-based services, but I still prefer the telephone (and with Skype it’s ridiculously cheap!) for all my business.

This is another large survey that I will publish over two days.
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A new research company to me, Rakuten Research, carried out this recent survey on the use of mobile contents and services, the 18th time they’ve carried it out, but the first time I’ve heard of it!

The survey was carried out at the start of this month amongst Rakuten Research’s monitor group; 2,460 people were selected, almost exactly 50:50 of each sex, with 2,074 of them (86.4%) being mobile phone users from the four main networks, DoCoMo, au, VodaFone and TU-KA. Unless otherwise noted, the sample size for questions are these 2,074 mobile phone users. The main areas of the survey was to find out about the use of “full browsers”, meaning mobile phone browsers that can view PC-based contents, the views on mobile phone information leakage, and communications with eldery parents. However, they have split the results reporting into two articles, so this report is about full browers only. Note that I have translated another survey regarding full browsers.

Q1: Have you used a full browser on your mobile?

All (N=2,074)	9.5%
Male (N=1,042)	12.5%
Female (N=1,032)	6.6%

Q2: For those answering yes to Q1, within the last month, what sorts of web sites have you accessed with the full browser? (Sample size=202, multiple answer)

Search or portal site	46.0%
News or general info site	37.1%
Traffic, maps or travel	26.7%
Shopping	21.8%
Blog	19.8%
Bulletin board	18.3%
Auction	17.8%
Single-function service (dictionary, translation, etc)	10.4%
Other	7.9%

Q3: For those answering yes to Q1, after using the full browser, how has your frequency of access to mobile phone-targetted sites changed? (Sample size=202)

Hardly ever access previously-used mobile sites	35.1%
Frequency of access of mobile sites has decreased	13.4%
Frequency of access of mobile sites has not changed	42.1%
Frequency of access of mobile sites has increased	9.4%

Q4: For those answering yes to Q1, after using the full browser, how has your frequency of access to mobile phone-targetted pay sites changed? (Sample size=202)

Now never access previously-used paid-for mobile contents	47.0%
Amount spend on paid-for mobile contents has decreased	15.3%
Amount spend on paid-for mobile contents has not changed	30.2%
Amount spend on paid-for mobile contents has increased	7.4%

Q5: What issues might crop up (or have cropped up) as a result of using a full browser? (Sample size=2,074, multiple answer)

Packet charge increase	60.8%
Phone screen size too small	44.3%
Corrupted character encodings or screen layout broken	28.1%
Few usable features	25.9%
Worry about viruses or accessing dodgy sites	25.5%
Response from web servers slow	25.3%
Poor usability	20.6%
Cannot view Javascript or Flash-based high-spec sites	15.9%
Others	2.4%
No particular problems or worries	19.2%

Finally, the trends of usage patterns of various major features of mobile phones were investigated. For each of the main functions of the phone, each respondent was asked if they had used it within the last month. Looking back at the historical data the following trends can be seen:

• Picture mail usage has increased from 36.4% to 40.5% in the last two months
• Bar code and QR Code scans are up from 17.6% to 21.5%
• Infrared usage also up from 14.4% to 16.6%
• Usage of all other features up, but none very significantly
• However, electronic money feature usage is still less than 2%

InfoPlant performed a survey of mobile phone users, carried out through the main menus of internet-enabled phones from DoCoMo, au and Vodafone. 16,833 people replied during the survey, lasting one week in the start of September. 67.4% of respondents were female, and iMode users, Ezweb users and Vodafone Live! users were 57.4%, 20.9% and 21.7% respectively. This is another self-selecting survey with a prize draw as a carrot, so the answers should be taken in that light.

Q1: Tell me how often you access sites from your mobile phone

	All	Male	Female
About every day	73.8%	76.7%	72.5%
Four or five days a week	10.4%	9.4%	10.9%
Two or three days a week	10.9%	9.5%	11.6%
About one day a week	3.1%	3.1%	3.2%
Less than that	1.6%	1.3%	1.8%

Not surprisingly, the younger the user, the more frequently they accessed.

Q2: Are you on a flat-rate packet plan? (ie, unlimited internet access)

	All	Male	Female
My phone supports it, and I’m using it	58.0%	59.9%	57.1%
My phone supports it, but I’m not on it, but want to change to it	12.3%	11.5%	12.7%
My phone supports it, but I’m not on it, and won’t change to it	5.9%	6.2%	5.8%
My phone doesn’t support it, but want to change to one that does	20.8%	19.4%	21.6%
My phone doesn’t support it, and won’t change to one that does	2.9%	3.0%	2.9%

Breaking down the table in Q1 by usage of inlimited access plans, we get:

	Unlimited access users	Not unlimited access users
About every day	85.7%	57.5%
Four or five days a week	6.8%	15.5%
Two or three days a week	5.5%	18.4%
About one day a week	1.3%	5.7%
Less than once a week	0.7%	3.0%

Q3: For unlimited access user, compared with before you started the service, what has increased? (Sample size=9,764; Multiple answer)

	All	Male	Female
Site Access Frequency	87.4%	89.7%	86.2%
Time spent at a particular site	60.0%	62.2%	58.9%
Number of games downloaded	29.0%	32.7%	27.1%
Number of non-game applets downloaded	20.1%	25.0%	17.7%
Number of ring tones downloaded	45.6%	46.5%	45.1%
Number of pay sites registered with	12.5%	12.6%	12.4%
Number of mails sent and received	36.9%	37.2%	36.8%
Number of times done shopping from mobile	14.3%	9.8%	16.7%
No change in particular	4.0%	3.3%	4.3%

The age breakdown has a couple of interesting spikes – ring tone download for teenagers is almost 50% more the next age group, and mail usage is about 25% to 30% higher for them too.

Q3A: For not unlimited access user, compared with before you started the service, what do you think might increase? (Sample size=7,069; Multiple answer)

	All	Male	Female
Site Access Frequency	66.9%	63.6%	68.4%
Time spent at a particular site	35.6%	34.8%	36.0%
Number of games downloaded	29.7%	32.9%	28.2%
Number of non-game applets downloaded	17.6%	20.6%	16.3%
Number of ring tones downloaded	41.2%	36.8%	43.2%
Number of pay sites registered with	7.9%	7.5%	8.1%
Number of mails sent and received	26.0%	23.6%	27.1%
Number of times done shopping from mobile	9.8%	6.9%	11.2%
No change in particular	12.1%	15.2%	10.8%

iShare performed this survey at the start of October where 1,525 users (52.9% female, ages from teenagers to those in their forties) of the CLUB BBQ mail service responded about their use of Social Network Services (SNS) and other web-based introduction services. In Japan, the term deai-kei, 出会い系 site, dating-related site, has a slightly dodgy meaning, I think, so perhaps that caused some of the respondents to be more reserved about their answers to the questions. There is also the suggestion of enjo-kousai associated with deai-kei, a Japanese euphemism for child prosititution, basically. SNS is not quite so well-known a term, so there is maybe not yet any particular stigma attached to it. However, I don’t know how much, or even whether or not, of a dating scene there might be at these SNS sites.

Also note that percentages listed to one decimal place are accurate figures, but those without decimal places are read directly off the graphs so are a bit inaccurate. Money also features in many of the surveys, as there are various rumours about gold-diggers and others out to scam people on dating sites.

Q1: Have you used a dating web site service?

Yes	18.7%
No	81.3%

Q2: For those of you that answered Yes in Q1, what was the outcome? (Choose one only)

Met in real-life and became friends	31.4%
Didn’t meet anyone	26.0%
Didn’t meet, but became e-mail friends	19.5%
Met in real-life and became lovers	10%
Met in real-life but was disappointed	5%
It got messy…	2%
Got money	0%

The various Social Network Services like mixi and GREE can be considered as “dating sites” in a rather broad sense. However, without an invitation from an existing member, these SNSes cannot be used.

Those in their twenties are the biggest user groups of SNSes, and of those who have heard about them but not got invitations, 31.4% of men and 38.5% of women have instead used dating sites. It looks as if there are lonely friendless people who are using dating sites for blind dates.

Q3: Which of the following applies to you regarding SNS like Mixi, GREE, etc?

	Currently using SNS	Used to use SNS	Know what they are, but never got an invite	Know what they are, but don’t think I want to use them	Don’t know the term SNS
10-19 year olds	15%	1%	3%	20%	59.7%
20-29 year olds	32.0%	2%	5%	22%	37.1%
30-39 year olds	21%	2%	4%	20%	50.5%
40-49 year olds	12%	2%	6%	20%	60.3%

It seems men more than women want to check out dating sites advertised in the spam they may receive, especially if the risk of fraud and the like from unsolicited mail is mitigated. Also, as men get older, the more likely they are to click on the dodgy links in spam mail; the older you get, the lonelier it is!

Q4: Have you ever clicked on a URL in unsolicited mail that you thought was for a dating site?

	Yes
Men 10-19 years old	14.3%
Men 20-29 years old	20.0%
Men 30-39 years old	20.5%
Men 40-49 years old	26.6%
Women 10-19 years old	3.3%
Women 20-29 years old	7.7%
Women 30-39 years old	9.2%
Women 40-49 years old	6.1%

Q5: For those who haven’t used one, do you want to try a dating site?

	Want to use	If there is no danger, I want to use	Don’t want to use	Can’t really say
Men 10-19 years old	0%	22%	58.5%	20%
Men 20-29 years old	4%	20%	61.6%	15%
Men 30-39 years old	1%	20%	71.2%	12%
Men 40-49 years old	0%	22%	63.9%	18%
Women 10-19 years old	0%	20%	71.4%	15%
Women 20-29 years old	1%	12%	78.1%	10%
Women 30-39 years old	1%	11%	83.0%	7%
Women 40-49 years old	1%	11%	83.0%	7%

Looking at those who have used dating sites, again it seems that loneliness is the main factor. Considering that those in their thirties are the heaviest users, and that is the age people get the urge to marriage, there seems a distict correlation. Speaking personally, most of the dating site spam I get seems more to do with bored housewives and prostitutes, not people looking for marriage!

Q: Why do/did you access the dating site?

	10-19 year olds	20-29 year olds	30-39 year olds	40-49 year olds
Want a lover	9.1%	2.1%	23.9%	7.9%
Want to “play”	9.1%	12.8%	8.5%	11.1%
Lonely	27.3%	4.3%	7.0%	0.0%
Want a mail friend	27.3%	27.7%	25.4%	44.4%
Want to banter with someone	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Just had some free time	27.3%	31.9%	19.7%	15.9%
Want to share hobbies	0.0%	14.9%	14.1%	17.5%
Want money	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Others	0.0%	6.4%	1.4%	3.2%

Another fun translation task. I liked how they used さみしい, samishii rather than さびしい, sabishii for lonely, a rather cute girly spelling of the word, even when they were describing middle-aged men.

NEOPRO JAPAN Mobile Report issue 26 recently published a report on accessing web sites and documents designed for PC use, or at least not designed with mobile phone access in mind. The average browser on a mobile phone is limited by various constraints, not just by the obvious limitation of screen size, but also by page data length – two to five kilobytes seems the usual limit – and by picture complexity and formats, to name a couple of other restrictions. There has been TV advertising for mobiles that can get round this limitation, but the question is are people interested in using these features? There’s also the supplementary question about whether or not once the access limitation is got round, is it actually practical to use your mobile to read the BBC? This issue is not addressed, however.

The survey was conducted on September the 8th and 9th through the iMode, Vodafone live! and EZweb public sites with some sort of prize promotion to get respondents. 4,216 people completed the self-selecting survey, 60% female, with 38% and 41% in their twenties and thirties respectively.

Q1: Would it be useful if you could view PC-facing web sites or files on your mobile phone?

Really useful	46%
Useful	34%
Perhaps, perhaps not	10%
Useful, but I wouldn’t use	8%
Other	1%
No answer	1%

Q2: Have you ever downloaded software to allow you to view PC-facing web sites or files on your mobile?

No, but I want to try it	58%
No, and have no interest	17%
Yes, a free download	15%
No, as my mobile phone already has that feature built-in	4%
Yes, a paid download	3%
Other	2%
No answer	1%

Q3: If you could view PC-facing web sites on your mobile, what sort of sites would you want to use? (Multiple answer)

News, maps, weather	41%
Auctions	37%
Fortune-telling or games	34%
Bulletin board reading and writing	33%
Others	32%
Railway info search	21%
Blogs	20%
Chat	15%
Social networking site	8%

Q4: Which of the following have you viewed, or would like to view, on your mobile phone? (Multiple answer)

PC mail	41%
Others	32%
Excel files	31%
Word files	30%
PDF files	14%
PowerPoint files	13%

BCN, some sort of umbrella organisation for small computer and electronic goods stores, performed this survey where they questioned 2,547 people, 57.2% male, and with an age profile of 14.5% under 30, 32.4% in their thirties, 34.5% in their forties, 13.2% in their fifties, and 5.3% over 60; and a bonus 0.1% unsure of how old. The PC usage history was perhaps also a bit top-heavy in veterans, 17.9% with less than 5 years, 39.8% between 5 and 10 years, 19.7% between 10 and 15 years, 9.4% between 15 and 20 years, and 13.1% over 20 years, which is quite stunning considering the PC itself is barely over 20 years old!
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Mixi is one of the most popular invite only Social Networking Service (SNS) in Japan, apparently, like Friendster et al. in the USA. They are not my cup of tea (just like I’m not really into all this blogrolling and incestuous linking here), but obviously other people like them. There was a report from a workshop at the Social Infomatics Fair 2005 at Kyoto University containing some interesting statistics on the social webs that had built up.

In February of this year, the number of users stood at around 360,000. Note it seems to be over a million now. The purpose of the research was to try to identify what sort of network of relationships had built up between users.

“My Mix” (in Japanese it’s pronounced closer to “My Mick”) is the slang term used to indicate the number of direct friends someone has registered; this would be roughly analogous to one’s blogroll in the blogging world.

According to a researcher named Kikuo YUTA from the Network Informatics Laboratories, 50.8% of the users have four or less people in their My Mix; 23.6% have but a solitary soul (perhaps just the person that invited them?) as a friend. On the other hand, the average length of a My Mix is just under 21.

For people with five or more names in their My Mix, the numbers stack up as follows:

5 to 11 friends	17.1%
12 to 25 friends	24.3%
26 to 40 friends	15.4%
41 to 87 friends	20.6%
88 to 197 friends	10.1%
198 to 1301 friends	2.9%

This adds up to 90.4% – what happened to the other 9.6%, you may very well ask. Well, here the story write-up is very vague (or I don’t understand it, of course), but what has happened is that the above table represents the share of the total number of links for each of the population sizes. This is explained further in the next paragraph.

A large minority of the My Mixers were very tightly intertwined, making them hubs for all the human relationships. Those with over 41 people in their My Mix list made up only 4.8% of the population, but accounted for 33.6% of the links. On the other hand, those with less than five in their My Mix (50.9%) had just 9.5% of the links.

Hmm, isn’t this just data simply derived from the population distribution, or is there a deeper meaning I am missing?

Kikuo YUTA also said that the high density of links in mixi was very rare – usually structure develops over time, but here it came into being almost right from the beginning. “It is the first time in the world such a unique structure has been found”, he said.

Maybe I’m missing something, but I would think that anything invitation-based would tend to have the sort of tight structure that they are describing? Being in Japanese limits the scope for spreading into disparate groups, I would think. Japanese just love being unique, however. Reading ahead I see more explanation… The rest of the article talked about other human aspects of the network, and whilst very interesting, is getting away from the main purpose of this blog, polls and surveys, so I’ll not translate. Also, the Japanese was getting rather hard!