世論 What Japan Thinks

Most of the big chains of convenience stores have two kiosk-like machines in many of their stores; an ATM machine, and a general-purpose terminal for conducting various transactions. This recent survey from goo Research Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at how people use convenience stores, with the report focusing on the use of these service kiosks.

Demographics

Between the 20th and 25th of August 2008 1,079 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.7% of the sample were male, 16.2% were in their teens, 17.5% in their twenties, 22.4% in their thirties, 17.0% in their forties, and 26.8% aged fifty or older.

Note that many Japanese net shopping sites, from the tiny stores at Rakuten all the way up to Amazon, allow payment at convenience stores. My wife has a Ticket Pia card, and even when booking through their own official ticket site she can get the option to pick up the tickets from a Family Mart store for no fee as an alternative to about 600 yen fee for registered post. When she picks up the tickets she can opt to pay by cash, but by inserting the card she gets priority seat choice, as they do not assign the seat when booking online (or by the phone), but instead when you pay. If you fail to turn up at the machine within three days you lose your booking. It does seem like a horribly complex and roundabout way of buying things and I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some sort of agreement between Ticket Pia and Family Mart whereby Family Mart pay Ticket Pia for sending a customer through their doors.
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This report by DIMSDRIVE Research into breakfast goes into far more detail than is healthy, I suspect! The fieldwork was conducted over three months ago, but it didn’t get published until last month. It’s also a subject that has been covered before on this blog.

Demographics

Between the 30th of April and 8th of May 2008 7,965 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.7% of the sample were female, 1.0% in their teens, 13.4% in their twenties, 36.1% in their thirties, 29.9% in their forties, 13.4% in their fifties, and 6.2% aged sixty or older.

I eat breakfast in every day (barring horrendous oversleeping!), but my special treat once every couple or months or so is to head down to a local English-style cafe and indulge in their full English breakfast, or if I’m running a little late, an early afternoon tea.
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This is a matter that I have pondered about, so it’s interesting to see BlogCh addressing the issue of hot water bum-washing toilet seat usage.

Demographics

Between the 29th and 31st of July 2008 658 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed an internet-based private questionnaire. 51.2% of the sample were male, 13.2% in their twenties, 47.0% in their thirties, 28.6% in their forties, and 11.2% in their teens or fifty or older.

I’ve used the hot water spray twice; once on a toilet with a built-in drier, and once without. Both were rather unpleasant experiences, and the lingering feeling of dampness downstairs was quite disconcerting.

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[Part 1][Part 2]

Now for part 2 of this survey conducted by an unnamed market research firm for Kao’s cat goods division into cat toiletism. Yes, they did stick an -ism on the end!

Demographics

No details were given, bar that 3,025 people owned by cats completed a survey. They do mention, however, that there are over 7 million households with cats, and in the last five years the percentage of single human households with a cat has doubled to the current figure of 14.4% of the total, or just over a million singles with a cat.

In Q8, remember that most Japanese homes are on the small size, so the choice of where to put the litter tray is rather limited.

At the moment in Japan there is a bit of a cat boom, and one of the ways it is expressed is by cat cafes, where you can have a cup of tea amongst some kitties. Indeed, I went to one recently, and once I finish uploading to flickr I’ll post a review.
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[Part 1][Part 2]

How do you know if your cat loves his litter tray? To try to find out in a less direct fashion than illustrated by the photograph, an unnamed market research firm on behalf of Kao’s cat goods division looked into cat toiletism. Yes, they did stick an -ism on the end!

Demographics

No details were given, bar that 3,025 people owned by cats completed a survey. They do mention, however, that there are over 7 million households with cats, and in the last five years the percentage of single human households with a cat has doubled to the current figure of 14.4% of the total, or just over a million singles with a cat.

My main reason for liking cats is that they are not clingy. I can’t stand dogs, with one of the reasons being their over-friendliness. Being able to keep themselves entertained when left on their own is a big plus too, of course. Back in Scotland I liked the pine chip poo sand and never understood why anyone would buy the Fuller’s Earth clay stuff!

Photograph by lynx81.
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This Sunday it’s another look at gender differences, with goo Ranking reporting on what wives wish their husbands would do for them once in a while, and the reverse, what husbands wish their wives would do for them once in a while.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 25th of June 2008 1,014 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.1% of the sample were male, 6.5% in their teens, 14.5% in their twenties, 31.0% in their thirties, 28.1% in their forties, 11.1% in their fifties, and 8.8% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

For me, I already do 1 (well, I bake), 2, 3, 6, 7, 9 (more precisely, I help with the hanging out), 10, she says I don’t do 11 enough, the second 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, she won’t trust me to do 24, 25, both 26s, 28 and 30 more than once in a while. I’d only want her to do 28, but not for a selfish reason. She doesn’t do ironing, but I’ve noticed in Japan ironing is not that popular an activity with anyone.
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You can’t say that I don’t present obscure corners of Japanese opinion (and I’ve got an even more obscure corner for next week!) with this look by MyVoice at dinosaurs.

Demographics

Over the first five days of July 2008 13,867 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 1% in their teens, 16% in their twenties, 38% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 16% in their fifties.

When I was a kid I used to have a poster of a T Rex fighting with a triceratops hung on my bedroom wall. When I stayed in Edinburgh there was a shop called Mr Wood’s Fossils that I always wanted to stop at and buy something, but I could never justify the cost!

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Let’s look again at one of the more popular themes for surveys, health awareness and special metabo examinations. This time it is Nippon Research Council looking at the topic.

Demographics

Between the 4th and 16th of June 2008 1,200 citizens between 15 and 79 years of age were randomly selected from all over the country, weighted based on data from the 2005 national census. The questionnaires were taken by a combination of face-to-face interviews and self-completed questionnaires. There is no information about how refusals to take part or other failures to collect data were dealt with. 50.4% of the sample were female, 6.2% in their teens, 15.1% in their twenties, 17.9% in their thirties, 15.3% in their forties, 18.3% in their fifties, 13.2% in their sixties, and 11.3% in their seventies.

Following on from recent western press coverage on the topic, I was wondering if metabo, the Japanese abbreviation for the English metabolic syndrome might get re-imported back into English. I can think only of anime as a precedent, but in English anime usually only refers to Japanese animation, not all kinds.

Perhaps related, one in four British fatties refuse to admit it.
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This is a fascinating topic, which reveals quite a generational gap for how people spent their honeymoon. The survey was conducted by goo Research in conjuction with AllAbout Japan.

Demographics

Over the 15th and 16th of May 2008 1,080 married women from the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 20.1% of the sample were between 25 and 29 years old, 20.4% between 30 and 34, 19.9% between 50 and 54, 19.7% between 55 and 59, and 19.9% between 60 and 64 years old. For those who may have remarried, it doesn’t say if they should answer for their current marriage or for all.

My honeymoon was all over Europe – wedding in Scotland, then to Amsterdam where we got our video nicked, then Austria and Germany in slightly posher hotels. We’ve since been back to just about everywhere, except for Amsterdam, of course! We took about 16 days for it, although the guests we had to drag along from Japan stayed just three days, which seemed such a gross waste of time and expense, most of it ours.
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This is a fascinating topic, which reveals quite a generational gap for how people spent their honeymoon. The survey was conducted by goo Research in conjuction with AllAbout Japan.

Demographics

Over the 15th and 16th of May 2008 1,080 married women from the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 20.1% of the sample were between 25 and 29 years old, 20.4% between 30 and 34, 19.9% between 50 and 54, 19.7% between 55 and 59, and 19.9% between 60 and 64 years old. For those who may have remarried, it doesn’t say if they should answer for their current marriage or for all.

My honeymoon was all over Europe – wedding in Scotland, then to Amsterdam where we got our video nicked, then Austria and Germany in slightly posher hotels. We’ve since been back to just about everywhere, except for Amsterdam, of course! We took about 16 days for it, although the guests we had to drag along from Japan stayed just three days, which seemed such a gross waste of time and expense, most of it ours.
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