世論 What Japan Thinks

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

The answer to headline is “not very much, quite frankly. And just 17 times a year.”

The Japanese division of the drug company Bayer recently published the results of a survey into Japanese married couples’ bedroom life. They interviewed 103 men and 103 women, all currently married, from each decade of life from their thirties to their sixties, excepting men in their forties, where they only had 102 people, making 823 people in total. The fieldwork was conducted between the 9th and 12th of June this year, by means of an internet questionnaire. No information is available on how the respondents were chosen.

In the second part we look at the degree of satisfaction in marriages; total sexlessness seems to be bad for a relationship, but even those with a somewhat sexless marriage seem to be reasonably satisfied overall. As one might expect, those most active in the bedroom seem to be the happiest.

Unfortunately, in Q8 the print on the graph is far too small and I cannot read it all; if anyone can help out, please leave me a short message.
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[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

The answer to headline is “not very much, quite frankly. And just 17 times a year.”

The Japanese division of the drug company Bayer recently published the results of a survey into Japanese married couples’ bedroom life. They interviewed 103 men and 103 women, all currently married, from each decade of life from their thirties to their sixties, excepting men in their forties, where they only had 102 people, making 823 people in total. The fieldwork was conducted between the 9th and 12th of June this year, by means of an internet questionnaire. No information is available on how the respondents were chosen.

The main reason for this research is, of course, that Bayer is famous for Viagra (oops, hope that doesn’t trip your spam filters), so it wanted to highlight issues surrounding the condition known in Japanese by the initials of the English term, ED (I’ll let you work that one out yourself!), probably because it’s less of a mouthful than the Japanese term 勃起機能の低下, bokki kinou no teika. My dictionary suggests 勃起障害, bokki shougai, is the official term, but perhaps that second term sounds too negative – “malfunction” rather than just “reduced functionality” in the first case. Note that for reasons I’m not too sure of, a lot of the terminology is English loanwords, even when Japanese equivalents exist; for example, ED as noted above, then セックス and セックスレス (sekkusu and sekkusuresu, sex and sexless, to name but three.

As per usual for any bedroom-related surveys, no, I will not tell you where I stand (as it were), but instead relate a wee anecdote. The first time my mother-in-law came to visit our flat shortly after marriage, and as wifey showed her the bedroom, complete with double bed, of course, the mother-in-law asked where I slept.

A tip of the hat to Mari’s Diary to alerting me to this survey! No, I don’t know what the penguins are for either!
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infoPLANT recently published a survey into dog food. Using their usual method of a public self-selecting survey from within the iMode menuing system, 5,278 people successfully completed the survey during one week at the beginning of August. The sample size was 65.9% female. This time, the self-selecting nature of the survey is not too much of a problem, as I doubt if there is much correlation between having a dog and having a mobile phone.

Please excuse the sensationalist but accurate story title; I’ve found recently that it’s the silly stuff that attracts the punters, and some serious but important surveys have had very little traffic. In fact, there’s a new premium dog food on the market that advertises itself as being not just edible, but in fact tasty for humans too! The company even has the British Royal Family’s seal of approval, but I can’t quite imagine the Queen sitting down with the corgis and tucking in together, somehow. Prince Charles, though, now that’s a different matter.
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With the impending IPO of mixi (related here by Gen Kanai), at an initial offer price of just over a million yen, or nearly £5000, per share, it may be timely to have a look at a report on japan.internet.com of goo Research’s second regular look into Social Networking Services, or SNS. 1,090 members of their internet monitor group responded to the survey; 55.8% were female, 1.6% in their teens, 22.1% in their twenties, 39.2% in their thirties, 24.6% in their forties, 9.4% in their fifties, and 3.0% in their sixties.

Last time I published an SNS survey I asked for an invite; I did get a couple of offers, but I’ve still not had time to actually take up any of them! It would be nice to have an account just for the sake of being able to say I do have one, and also as I do get the occasional hit from mixi that I cannot view without an account…

Q1: Do you use Social Networking Services (SNS)? (Sample size=1,090)

Currently using an SNS	23.9%
Used to use SNSs but don’t any longer	5.4%
Never used one	44.0%
Don’t know what they are	26.7%

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japan.internet.com recently published the results of a survey by JR Tokai Express Research into the use of マンガ喫茶, Manga kissa, or comic cafes. They interviewd 330 people from their monitor pool, 60.6% male, 1.5% in their teens, 17.6% in their twenties, 33.6% in their thirties. 25.5% in their forties, 14.2% in their fifties, and 7.6% in their sixties.

Manga cafes are to be found all over the big cities, many offering very cheap prices (if you don’t overstay your welcome) for access to not just their huge stack of comics and magazines, but also computers, showers, DVDs, and even private cubicles for one or two, if you’re after a cheap and private location for a date.

Q1: Have you ever used a manga cafe? (Sample size=330)

Yes (to Q2)	43.0%
No, but I know what they are	54.2%
Don’t know what they are	2.7%

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Over six days at the end of June DIMSDRIVE Research looked at what people thought about the two key features of the Japanese summer, namely the rainy season and typhoons. 3,198 people from their monitor group completed a private internet-based survey; 53.6% of the sample was female, 2.4% in their teens, 16.6% in their twenties, 34.0% in their thirties, 25.5% in their forties, 12.3% in their fifties and 9.2% in their sixties.

I suppose the overall results of this survey are only notable in their predictability that people dislike bad weather! I too dislike the rainy season, but I’ve been lucky enough to avoid most typhoons; there was one dangerous one two years ago that nearly flooded a river rather too close to my flat, but other than that, back home a good Atlantic gale is much more ferocious than the average, or even the stronger than average typhoons that blow over Japan.
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On their phones, I hasten to add. japan.internet.com published this much less interesting than it seems fact as part of its report on a survey by Cross Marketing Inc into the use of paid contents on mobile phones. They interviewed 300 mobile phone users by means of a private internet survey; exactly half of the sample was male, and 20.0% were in their teens, 20.0% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, and 20.0% in their fifties.

I personally only use the buzzer in manner mode, but my phone is in such a mode all day most days. Ah, I’d better explain that manner mode is a 和製英語, wasei eigo, or Japanese-English expression that means silent mode, turning off all audible ringers. A pet hate of mine is people who leave the keyboard beep on!

Q1: At what volume do you usually set your ring tones to? (Sample size=300)

Maximum volume	17.0%
High volume	18.3%
Medium volume	31.7%
Low volume	14.0%
Silent mode	17.7%
Step-up volume	1.3%
Step-down volume	0.0%

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Over four days in early March (sorry, but they are always slow to report) Central Research Services, Inc carried out a survey on views on pets. 2,000 people throughout the country aged 20 or over were randomly selected for face-to-face interviews; just over two-thirds, or 1,341 agreed to participate. The same questions had also been asked in other surveys carried out in 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2005.

Pet ownership is yet another of the facets of Japanese society that we foreigners find hard to understand. Whilst this survey does highlight some of the things that seem strange to me, sadly it does not explain them. In reference to the headline, a few years ago there was a huge boom in Chiuwawa sales thanks mostly to a series of adverts for high interest loans, with some other adverts following suit. One that particularly sticks in my mind was for a product I forgot, but the daughter was moving out to her own place, and you saw her coming in with her newly-bought puppy only to find the parents already waiting with another one. Oh, how they laughed!
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Another survey that MyVoice performed at the start of July was on environmental issues and MOTTAINAI. 12,326 members of their MyVoice monitor community successfully completed a private internet questionnaire; 54% of the sample was female, 3% in their teens, 22% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 24% in their forties, and 12% in their fifties.

MOTTAINAI, or to translate, “what a waste”, is a Japanese word cleverly adopted by Wangari Muta Maathai and her Greenbelt Movement, and clumsily, in my opinion, adopted by Japanese businesses in order to flog more tat or to appear green. It may be worth pointing out that another environmental campaign, Cool Biz, has, I fear, dropped out of the public awareness as a real measure, and has become merely lipservice towards environmentalism. One of the train companies I use during my commute, for instance, said in their fortnightly free paper that the company would be supporting Cool Biz by setting the air conditioner to 26°C in most carriages, and 27°C in the lightly air-conditioned carriages. However, it’s cold enough most mornings and evenings to give me goose-pimples in shirt sleeves, and in fact last weekend I checked an in-carriage thermometer and it was reading 20°C in the lightly air-conditioned carriage. MOTTAINAI indeed!
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At the start of July this year, MyVoice looked at food education. 12,489 members of their internet monitor group correctly responded to their survey. 46% of the sample was male, 3% in their teens, 21% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 25% in their forties, and 12% in their fifties.

Food education, or to use the Japanese term, 食育, shokuiku, is a term referring to the promotion of not just healthy eating, but all aspects of a sensible diet, from selecting the food through to enjoying the taste. Apparently last year there was even a law enacted, 食育基本法, shokuiki kihon hou, “Basic Law on Nutritional Education”, to allow such promotion to be carried out by local governments.

I’m not aware of an English version of the information on food education, but if anyone finds a good link, please feel free to mail me and I’ll update the post.
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