世論 What Japan Thinks

MyVoice conducted a web-based opinion poll amongst the 12,311 members of their internet community, of whom 57% were female, to find out their opinions about keeping pets. Given that most of the pet shops I see seem to be 80% dogs and dog-related items, I’m very suprised to see that cats are scoring so highly! Perhaps it’s just that cats are easier to obtain from friends than dogs?

Q1: Do you currently keep a pet at home?

Yes	39.3%
Plan to get one in the near future	0.9%
I want to keep one sometime	18.6%
I’ve no plan to get one	41.2%

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infoPLANT performed a survey regarding the purchase and ownership of hard disk-based portable audio players. Not too suprisingly, along with Apple, Sony came out rather well. I always find the huge positive image of Sony rather depressing, as outside the PSP and PS2, most of their stuff is pretty much average quality or worse (and I’ve heard the PSP and PS2s aren’t much better) and overpriced, yet everyone loves them. Not that this is purely a Japanese trait – even the tough crowd over in Slashdot give Sony an easy time on the whole, regardless of Sony’s embrace of DRM, closed systems, and the recent rootkit fiasco.

infoPLANT surveyed 8,615 people, 35.5% male, over one week at the start of October. The respondents to the survey were self-selecting, choosing to fill in a questionnaire presented within the iMode menu system.

Q1: Do you have a hard disk-based portable audio player? (Sample size=8,615)

Yes	15.4%
No	84.6%

For males, three in ten teenagers have them, decreasing to less than one in ten for those over fifty, but for females, over one in five of the over-fifties sample owned one, exceeding the teenagers in second place by 0.2%! The sample in their thirties had the lowest ownership figures, with only 11.5% owning one. The reason for this interesting data is not mentioned.
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DIMSDRIVE Research conducted an opinion poll amongst 6,416 members (39.9% male) of the their internet monitor group about their attitudes to outer space tourism. Having solved the food problem for the third who worry about eating in space, perhaps next the ISS engineers need to address the lack of a washlet in the inflight loo?

Q1: Do you think you want to travel into outer space? (Sample size=6,416)

Definitely want to go	33.7%
Somewhat want to go	33.8%
Don’t really want to go	15.0%
Don’t want to go at all	14.4%
Don’t know	3.1%

On average, men were 10 percentage points more likely to definitely want to go, but the older both sexes got, the less keen they were.

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Despite being a nominally Buddhist and/or Shinto nation, Japan has warmly embraced the Western secular spending spree festival we call Xmas, as well as retaining its traditional New Year shrine and/or temple visiting superstition.

MyVoice conducted a web-based opinion poll of 15,572 members of its internet community at the start of this year to see how they spent the 2004-2005 holiday season. The survey participants were 46% male, and over a third in their thirties.

Q1: How did you spend the New Year? (Multiple answer)

Spent with family	79%
Hatsumode (visit to temple)	40%
Gathered with relatives	25%
New Year greetings	23%
Went back to family home	21%
Ate out	17%
New Year sales	17%
Bought a lucky bag	13%
Went to film, theatre, concert, theme park, etc	6%
Went to play at friend’s house	6%
Domestic travel	5%
Overseas travel	1%
Other	7%
No answer	0.03%

Note that the 40% is low according to other polls, but Hatsumode does not officially finish until the 7th of January, after the end of the polling dates, and unofficially people will continue to perform what they consider to be Hatsumode until perhaps the end of January.
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Last December, MyVoice carried out a survey about brushing teeth. In Japan, dentist skill, and dental hygiene, or lack thereof, is often a subject of ridicule by the foreign contingent, but I seem to have been lucky and found a very good dentist. Actually, if it hadn’t been for my Japanese dentist and all the work he did (yes, I have British teeth) I don’t think I’d have had the confidence to meet my wife.

They sought the opinion 16,013 people via a web-based survey from the internet community “MyVoice”, of whom 42% were male, and found, amongst other things, that not many people at all attend regular check-ups.

Q1: Each day, how many times do you normally brush your teeth?

Don’t usually do so	1%
Once	25%
Twice	53%
Thrice	19%
Four or more times	2%

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My Voice conducted a web-based survey of their registered users regarding home security issues. There seems to be a lot of worry about burglary in particular.

The survey was conducted at the start of October, with 16,346 respondents. 41% were male, and 4% teenagers, 23% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 23% in their forties, and 11% fifty and over.

Q1: How uneasy do you feel about public order and crime around the area where you live? (Sample size=16,346)

I feel uneasy	17.0%
I feel a little uneasy	51.4%
I don’t really feel uneasy	27.4%
I don’t feel uneasy at all	4.1%

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Getting the latest (allegedly) healthy food introduced on shows like Aru-Aru Daijiten can result in the product being sold out not just the day after, but for weeks on end. The biggest effect I remember was when they introduced CoQ10, resulting in Nature Made being out of stock and on back order for months, and since the program (about 18 months ago, I think) I have never again seen Nature Made’s CoQ10 in stores in Japan, although apparently they do still make it. This survey on health foods seems more geared towards foodstuffs than supplements, though.

Nippon Research Center Ltd asked 2,200 people of both sexes, of whom 1,165 cooperated with the survey, aged between 15 and 79 from all around the country.
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Outside two of the railways stations in Osaka yesterday they were handing out census forms to find out about rail use in the city. There is an online option for submissions, but the web site seems to be broken! Note that the URL uses the English path /railcensus/ rather than Japanese /tetsudochousa/ or the like. I’ll be keen to see the results of this survey!

The questions are as follows:

Q1: What is the purpose of your first railway journey today?

• Commute to work
• Commute to school
• Work-related travel
• Private
• Returning home

Q2: When did you set out on this trip?

Q2A: What means of transport were used to get to the first railway station?

Q2B: When did you arrive at the first railway station on your trip?

Q3: For each train taken, please record the railway line name, the start and end station, the class of train (local, express, reserved seat or bullet train), whether you used a commutation pass, and if it was crowded or over-crowded.

Q4: When did you arrive at the final railway station on your trip?

Q4A: What means of transport were used to get to your ultimate destination?

Q5: For your second railway journey of the day, please record the similar details to those above.

Q6: If your second trip of the day did not take you home, and you didn’t return home by some other means, please record the start and end times and start and end station of your trip home.

DIMSDRIVE Research investigated the Japanese love of fads, this time Beaujolais Nouveau, due this coming Thursday the 17th. I think the only time I’ve ever drunk the stuff (I’m mildly allergic to something in red wine that puts me under the table after less than a glassful, and I’m not keen on the taste either) was in my favourite Soba Noodles shop that was serving free thimblefuls of last year’s left overs as an appetiser one day. However, it seems over half the Japanese interviewed want to drink Beaujolais Nouveau.

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DIMSDRIVE Research carried out a survey at the end of October regarding importation of USA beef and beef consumption in general. As a vegetarian myself, I’m naturally ambivalent as to whether people can buy USA beef or not, but as an amateur statistician and UK citizen, I think the whole fuss about BSE and vCJD was overblown, as the figures show. I recognise that at first as it was an new variant of a terrible disease the risk could not be quantified and extreme caution was required, but it seems to have turned out to be not as virulent as first feared. Also, from a Japanese point of view, I suspect that the dangers of toxins from locally-caught seafood may be responsible for more deaths than vCJD in the UK! And don’t get me started on banning blood donations from people who have spent even just one day in the UK!

They interviewed 2,535 men and 3,468 women – 6,003 in total – from their internet monitor group. They performed a similar survey in December 2003, so the trend since then will also be pointed out where significant. The age breakdown was 1.3% in their teens, 18.1% from 20 to 29, 36.3% from 30 to 39, 27.1% from 40 to 49, 12.6% from 50 to 59, and 4.6% 60 or over. Note that I assume “beef” to mean the raw cuts (perhaps precooked too?) as a food ingredient, not restaurant meals. However, given the high figures for male purchases, either many are reporting their wives’ shopping habits or are including prepared food, but since convenience stores figure very low in the statistics, I suspect that the first is true, many men must be reporting their wives’ purchases.

Q: In the last month, about how often have you bought beef? (Sample size=6,003)

	This survey October 2005	Last survey December 2003
Four or more times a week	1.3%	1.6%
Two or three times a week	12.6%	11.6%
Once a week	27.5%	31.5%
Two or three times a month	24.2%	27.9%
Once a month	13.4%	10.3%
Never	21.0%	17.1%

Q: For those who have bought beef, where do you most often purchase it? (Sample size=4,742)

Convenience store	0.4%
Supermarket	83.9%
Department store	3.0%
Butchers	6.8%
Co-operative	4.9%
Others	1.0%

Q: For those who have bought beef, what one thing do you pay most attention to when you make your purchase? (Sample size=4,742)

Price	40.2%
Place of origin	27.9%
Freshness	13.9%
Quality	7.8%
Best-before date	5.7%
Grade	2.4%
Processor (?)	0.9%
Vendor	0.4%
Other	0.8%

Q: What was the country of origin of the beef you currently purchase? (Sample size=4,742, multiple answer)

Japan	62.8%
Australia	52.5%
New Zealand	8.7%
Canada	2.4%
Brazil	0.4%
China	0.3%
Argentina	0.2%
Other	0.1%
Don’t know	10.6

Q: This year it is said that USA beef imports will restart; how do you feel about this? (Sample size=6,003)

Extremely uneasy	28.1%
A little uneasy	38.2%
Not really uneasy	24.0%
Not at all uneasy	6.0%
Don’t know	3.7%

Q: If imports of USA beef resumes, will you buy any? (Sample size=6,003)

Yes	22.5%
No	41.5%
Don’t know	36.0%

Q: For those who won’t buy USA beef, if which points were improved would you buy? (Sample size=2,490, multiple answer)

If USA tested all cattle	62.6%
If it was scientifically proven safe	42.6%
If the particularly dangerous parts were completely removed on importation	31.8%
If only cattle that hadn’t eaten bone meal feed were sold	28.5%
If the origin of beef was displayed at all points of sale	22.9%
If the age of beef was displayed at all points of sale	12.5%
Others	3.9%
Regardless of what was improved I wouldn’t buy	20.1%