世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s a rather interesting survey from goo Research and Keio University’s SFC Research Centre into information sources for the personal learning process.

Demographics

Between the 15th and 18th of May 2009 1,050 members of the goo Research consumer monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.4% of the sample were female, 20.3% in their teens, 19.7% in their twenties, 19.6% in their thirties, 20.2% in their forties, and 20.2% aged fifty or older.

As a resident of Japan, one problem I have in the office with officially-sponsored learning is that it is all in Japanese! However, one great way to avoid these language problems at a low cost is provided by the company that Koichi at Tofugu works with as a tutor. The people at eduFire offer low-cost online training in a million and one topics (well, currently at least 27 major ones with lots of sub-topics) through the internet using Skype. One of Koichi’s specialities is Japanese language courses, and from what I’ve seen of his stuff, I can heartily recommend him and have confidence that the rest of the services offered will also be well worth the money. The tutors there are all available for realtime interaction, all just a mouse click away.

It’s not free, but just $29 (2,600 yen or so) gets you a one month unlimited access SuperPass for not just Japanese lessons, but lots of other courses like marketing, Confucius Philosophy, or indeed English, stuff that could cost you hundreds of thousands of yen through traditional routes. For a cheap preview, they also offer one week for one dollar, so you can give it a go with minimal risk. This is cheaper that the free lessons I’ve seen at my regional international centre, once you factor in travelling expenses, as you’re in the classroom right now!

Career stagnation is a problem that many face, so in these tough economic times $29 per month to improve your CV/resume is a cheap way to help yourself out!

Disclosure: What Japan Thinks receives a commission from eduFire for completed sign-ups.
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One nice thing (from a shopping, not environmental point of view) in Japan is that many department stores give you a nice simple paper bag with handles for your purchases; not the cheap thin brown paper supermarket bags as seen in the US, but a decent reusable one. Brand stores and posh cake shops also give away better quality paper bags, so to see what happens when they get taken home, iShare looked at reuse of paper bags.

Demographics

Between the 8th and 11th of August 2009 586 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.7% of the sample were male, 34.3% in their twenties, 31.1% in their thirties, and 34.6% in their forties.

We have a huge amount of paper bags stocked up, probably a few hundred, although we do reuse about one per month for either just as a container when taking things to the monther-in-law, or as a posh wrapper for a cheap souvenir to friends.

Interestingly, there’s a second-hand handbag and other branded item shop that regularly advertises in a local free paper that offers a few hundred yen per Gucci or Chanel paper bag that you might want to bring along.
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MyVoice recently took a look at how Japanese use hotels and other lodgings, in particular what criteria they use for selecting them.

Demographics

Over the first five days of August 2009 13,801 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% in their teens, 16% in their twenties, 33% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 20% aged fifty or older.

The last hotel I stayed in was the Westin Awaji, which is a very nice hotel in a great location. One of the criteria we used was me having a point card, and another was being a western-style managed hotel, as the previous night we’d stayed in a Japanese-managed hotel. One big difference was that the Westin had a whole non-smoking floor, the other one had just half a dozen rooms at the far end of one corridor that still had a lingering hint of tobacco clinging to the walls. However, the Westin was disappointing for food, especially the breakfast was not the full buffet one expects from their chains.
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First there was happoshu, a most foul fizzy alcohol drink, then there was third sector beer brewed from non-traditional ingredients like corn, peas, and old socks. Now there is new genre fourth sector beers, which seem to be going back to being based on the traditional barley, but with lower sugar, carbohydrates, purine, and taste content. This new genre of brews were the subject of a survey from MyVoice.

Demographics

Over the first five days of August 2009 13,517 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 15% were in their twenties, 34% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 21% aged fifty or older.

I recently had some Style Free, I think it was, a zero carbohydrates drink with just 35 or so calories a can, which was surprisingly pleasant, and without the heavy sugary aftertaste of many other canned beers. It seems to be a happoshu rather than a new genre beer, but let’s ignore that and continue with my description. The morning after was better as well, without an overnight festering of sugars in my mouth. I recommend you give them a try – they are cheap and with dozens of different brands, there’s lots of scope for finding one that suits your palate.

Oh, and a quick shout-out to Gaijin Tonic, where you might or might not find reviews of some of the fine products listed below.
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Following on from yesterday’s look at using a mobile phone as a wristwatch, this time Marsh Inc looked at using a mobile as an alarm clock in a survey reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Between the 30th of July and the 1st of August 2009 300 members of the Marsh monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, with 2.0% in their teens, 18.0% 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 an alarm clock, I recently received one for my birthday, a cat-themed one that is insulated enough not to tick, but screams out in Japanese in the morning “GET UP! MEOWWWW! IT’S TIME! MEOWwwww! GET UP!” and rather than a lever to batter it into silence, I need to fiddle with a recessed switch, and as I turn it off it screams again “YOU’VE GOT UP, PERHAPS?” I should record it tomorrow and upload a movie…
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This recent survey from MyVoice looked at the topic of detergents and soaps for washing clothes.

Demographics

Over the first five days of July 2009 15,060 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 1% in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 36% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 19% aged fifty or older.

Q1 is a bit confusing as it doesn’t make clear how husbands should respond, given that I doubt that many married Japanese men actually ever turn on a washing machine. Even I don’t do washing, although at weekends I always help with the hanging out and folding up. Given 46% of the sample being male and 22.6% of the sample not washing clothes themselves, that’s at worst roughly half the men don’t wash clothes. Given that MyVoice’s monitor group’s overall demographics are 55.6% married, then it is probable that the vast majority of the 22.6% on non-washers are husbands, and the rest perhaps children at home, those in dormitories, and those who send everything off to the cleaners. As a translation note, Q1 directly asks about the respondent himself or herself, but Q2 expands to cover the whole family.
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Although the traditional time for ghost stories in the West is around Halloween, in Japan it is summer as the chill ghost stories send down your spine cools you off in the summer heat, or so the theory goes. To find out what people thought about this, iShare took a look at scary stories.

Demographics

Between the 22nd and 24th of July 2009 509 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.4% of the sample were male, 33.8% in their twenties, 29.7% in their thirties, and 36.5% in their forties.

I am disappointed that the fundamental question “do you believe in ghosts?” was not asked. According to the survey that was the spur behind the creation of What Japan Thinks, in Q3 only 27.0% do not believe that anything supernatural exists. If you do believe they exist, please visit James Randi’s site and find out not why they don’t exist, but why no-one has been able to demonstrate in a properly-designed experiment that they do.
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iShare definitely has some sort of toilet obsession, with this time taking a look at public toilet seat issues.

Demographics

Between the 8th and 13th of July 2009 568 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.4% of the sample were male, 35.7% in their twenties, 31.3% in their thirties, and 32.9% in their forties.

I don’t like using public toilets, but more from the point of view of not being being able to relax. I think I’ve only once used the paper sheet covers, but only just because I wanted to see what they actually were, rather than any worry about hygene. Wifey, on the other hand, prefers Western toilets and always carries seat cleaning sheets with her whenever she goes out.

Previous toilet-related surveys from iShare have included toilet noises, water-squirting toilets, and mobile phones in the toilet.
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There was a bit of an overdose last month amongst foreigner blogs on Pepsi Shiso, but this recnt survey from MyVoice looking at carbonated soft drinks found that just 5% of the fizzy drink drinkers had tried it.

Demographics

Over the first five days of July 2009 14,904 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% in their teens, 13% in their twenties, 36% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 19% aged fifty or older.

I’m a fizzy drink fan, with my favourite being Coca Cola Zero. The sweetener here is different from the one used in the USA, as I find US Diet Coke pretty poor.

For reference, I translated a Coke versus Pepsi survey last year.
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This fun survey from goo Research, and reported on by japan.internet.com, into taking electronic equipment along to the beach indicates that the majority of people who take their laptop computers to the seaside end up dropping them in the ocean!

Demographics

Between the 8th and 13th of July 2009 1,077 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.1% of the sample were male, 16.4% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.9% in their fifties, and 11.8% aged sixty or older.

I wonder if the high rate of butterfingered notebook computer owners suggests that those daft enough to take a computer to the beach are also daft enough not to look after it properly! Sand under the keyboard would be enough of a reason for me not to bother, let alone the risk of a briny dunk.

Have any of my readers had electronics destroyed by seawater?

Photo from gamp on flickr.
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