世論 What Japan Thinks

Research Panel recently did a Day Research quick survey on piercings; 147,357 people responded to the question.

14.7% said they had one (there was no investigation into what part of the body, but the answer includes conventional ear lobe piercing), 9.7% used to have one, 8.9% didn’t have one but were interested in getting one, and 66.7% had no interest at all.

By way of comparison, according to this data, 14% of Americans and 10% of British people have piercing in places other than their earlobes, but their figures on 83% of Americans having piercings and 72% of them being women would mean that at least 60% of Americans are female, which obviously indicates an error somewhere!

That’s the question posed by Research Panel’s Day Research, where 149,374 people of both sexes were asked if they liked stuff like this pictured below on women:

The score for both sexes combined were 35.7% liked it, 60.7% didn’t like it, and 3.6% just didn’t know what nail art was! However, when the sexes were split, just 24.9% of guys liked it versus 70.0% who didn’t, while for the women 47.8% liked it while 50.2% didn’t. One suggestion why was offered by a matchmaker, who said that it was a huge turn-off for guys as it gave the impression of someone who wasn’t interested in doing housework.

The cosmetics seller and make-up training school, naturaglacè, catchphrase “Dolce make-up by nature’s way”, recently conducted its own survey into one’s own make-up.

Demographics

Between the 26th of February and the 4th of March 2013 1,505 women completed a web-based questionnaire. Details on how the sample was gathered, or more detailed demographics was not presented.

Not being in the habit of wearing make-up, I cannot really comment too much on this poll, although I will note that from the women in Q5A, Haruka Ayase, Koyuki and Kaori Momoi have appeared together in an advert for SK-II skin care cosmetics.
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Between the 26th of April and 9th of May 2013 5,198 members of @Nifty answered a number of questions about udon, Japanese wheat-based noodles. Here are some of the highlights.

First, when asked how much they loved it, 2% said it was to die for, 32% loved it, 43% liked it, 18% had no particular preferences, just 4% didn’t really like it, a rounded 0% hated it, and no-one would die rather than eat it! I’m in the like category.

Next, regarding whether it was better hot or cold, 44% chose hot, 24% had no preference, 6% preferred it cold, 25% liked it hot in winter and cold in summer, and 1% disliked it either way.

Regarding when they liked to eat it, women had more preferences than me in almost every category; just under a half of both sexes chose at lunchtime, 27% anf 34% of women in cold weather, 24% of men and 35% when their didn’t want to spend time or effort eating anything else, and so on down. The two times that men prefered it more than women was any time (24% versus 22%) and after drinking, 7% versus 2%!

Now, an interesting question; there are two main variants of broth that udon is served with; Kanto dashi from the Tokyo region, and Kansai dashi from the Osaka area. Kansai dashi is an almost clear broth subtly flavoured with kombu seaweed, Kanto dashi is basically 90% soy sauce, or at least that’s how it tastes to me! The results of this question were split by the regions of Japan; 25% to 30% of those in East Japan prefered Kanto dashi, versus under 5% in the West. Tokai, which is the Nagoya area was in no-man’s land, with about 18% siding with Kanto. About 35% in East Japan liked both styles equally, whilst under 10% in the West did. Kyushu, however, had about 18% sitting on the fence. Interestingly, even in Kanto itself more prefered Kansai dashi (about 33%), and a few percent more in other eastern and northern areas were also so inclined. In Kansai, over 90% supported the home team, and about 80% in parts further west.

When asked what flavouring accents they liked, sliced green onions was tops with 90%, chili-based spices was second at about 66%, then bonita fish flakes at 28% or so. Yuzu, citrus peel, was just under 20% despite being my favourite.

Ahh, I’ve got all hungry now!

It’s been quite a while since the last time I translated a DIMSDRIVE survey, so I’m quite happy to present this one from them on deodorising sprays, which you should note excludes personal hygene-related products!

Demographics

Between the 9th and 15th of April 2013 7,089 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.4% of the sample were male, 0.4% in their teens, 4.4% in their twenties, 18.6% in their thirties, 30.6% in their forties, 25.7% in their fifties, and 20.3% aged sixty or older.

My wife uses a lot of them every day! When we hang our quilts out to air, we use one which is supposed to prevent pollen sticking to the covers, so I suppose that’s OK, but just about every fabric surface in the house also gets sprayed with various potions that don’t seem to do much except make the floor a little sticky! It also seems a cop-out on the housework; shall I do some detailed cleaning, or shall I just squirt something over everything that doesn’t move?
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Men’s hair, of course, in this Day Research by Research Panel into if you had to choose one which do you prefer on men; thinning hair, white hair, or long hair? 16,821 women from the Research Panel monitor group answered.

The top choice was white with 69.7%, 26.2% for long, and just 4.2% for thinning. Sadly I fall into the last category only. 46.7% of teenage girls selected long hair, dropping to 34.6% for those in their twenties, and from thirty upwards it was in the twenties range. However, even amongst teenage girls, white hair was the top preference. This photo might be one reason thinning hair is not popular…

This quicky from Anicom Animal Insurance looked at a cat’s effect on family life. This survey was released on the 29th of September 2012, which is apparently Maneki Neko (Beckoning Cat) Day. 653 cat owners answered the survey between the 12th and 17th of September 2012. This seems like a good excuse for a beckoning kitty – click on the picture to read a bit more about Beckoning Cats!

When asked if they thought their pet cats were Maneki Neko, 82.%% said yes, 4.1% no, and 13.4% couldn’t say. When asked what exactly people thought their cats brought in, 76.9% said healing power, 71.5% happy times, 56.7% laughs, 28.5% family (eh?), 23.8% careful cleaning (perhaps they thought they copied with the hoover their cat’s careful grooming?) 14.2% health, 11.8% sound sleep, 11.7% good luck, 11.3% work, 9.4% friends, 8.2% hobbies, and 7.4% financial good fortune.

PR Times printed a press release from Kanro, a sweets maker, who conducted a survey into love charms, as part of a promotion of a new product they have, “Magical Pure”, a pureed gummy (Jelly Baby) type of thing, with a special promotional site featuring Perfume that quite badly killed my browser!

Demographics

Over the 25th and 26th of April 2013 242 young women aged between 20 and 39 completed an internet survey, but how they were selected is not described.

Being far too rational, I have zero belief in any of this nonsense, and not even when I was a teenager did I indulge, although admittedly it was probably because I wasn’t really interested in all that sort of thing while I was at school.

Anyway, enough about me, on with the survey!
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Pet and Family, an insurance company who bill themselves as being “low cost and short term”, took a look at pet owners’ plans for Golden Week. Golden Week is just ending as I type this; the 29th of April and the 3rd, 4th and 5th are public holidays in Japan, and many employers (including mine) make the intervening days holidays too, and this week-long holiday period is known as Golden Week.

Demographics

Between the 12th and 14th of April 2013 1,667 pet (presumably cat and dog only) owners from all over the country aged between 20 and 79 completed “internet research”. The means by which the sample were chosen, etc, is not disclosed. 68.0% of the sample were male, but no further demographic information was given.

Note further that it does not say if any people had both cats and dogs. or two sizes of dogs, etc, or if they had, how they should answer Q1 and others.

I’d like to see more detailed breakdown of the figures; how many people who went on overnight trips left their pets (specifically cats) home alone? When I was single, I left my cat at home for a maximum of three nights, although that was the exception rather than the rule, as I usually took him to a cattery. However, in Japan there are few catteries, so if we go away we have to put our cats in with the vets, and they just have a large-sized box to stay in.

I didn’t do anything this Golden Week bar one trip to the theatre (I slept through much of the first act!) and one trip to see the in-laws.
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Today’s quickie is from Research Panel’s Day Research, looking at going to the book store or convenience store and reading books on display, called 立ち読み, tachiyomi, literally “reading standing up”, as the photo below illustrates.

137,793 of the Research Panel monitors answered the question “Have you ever gone to a book store, convenience store, etc, read books standing up, then left without buying anything?” on the 2nd and 3rd of May 2013. 29.5% admitted to often leaving without buying, 41.8% to sometimes leaving without buying, 12.1% had never left without buying, 14.8% had never done reading standing up with or without buying, and finally 1.9% didn’t go to book stores or convenience stores.