世論 What Japan Thinks

According to the 13th regular electronic cash survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com, both the percentage of card holders and the frequency of usage is increasing, but over the last year the change has been almost within the margin of error for these surveys.

Research results

Between the 30th of November and the 4th of December 2009 1,092 members of the goo Research internet monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 53.6% of the sample were male, 16.1% in their teens, 18.7% int heir twenties, 21.7% in their thirties, 15.8% in their forties, and 27.7% aged fifty or older.

I’m really getting quite into my Stacia card, with most days seeing me buy a morning snack at a convenience store on the way to work, and at the weekends getting a bottle of water from a vending machine or a station kiosk. It’s easier to budget (or should that be cheat on my allowance?) too, as I don’t end up wasting my cash on lots of fiddly things.
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I have zero interest in brand bags, and fortunately my wife grew out of her habit long before we met, but looking at this recent survey from iShare into second-hand, pawned and rental brand bags I see there are still a lot of addicts out there!

Demographics

Between the 19th and 25th of November 2009 502 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.2% of the sample were male, 33.5% in their twenties, 33.5% in their thirties, and 33.1% in their forties.

It’s quite amazing to see that just about one third of the younger Japanese female population has bought a brand bag and another fifth have had one bought for them, but then again when out and about at the weekend it does seem like half the girls are carrying an LV tote…
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iBridge Research Plus’s love affair with young Japanese women and their internet habits continues with them looking at web email forwarding functions, as reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographcis

On the 7th of December 2009 300 members of the iBridge Research Plus monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. All 300 were female, 18.7% were in their twenties, 43.0% in their thirties, and 38.3% in their forties.

iBridge Research Plus last looked at young women just last month, where they examined their use of Gmail.

I’m quite surprised at the number who know that their web email can be forwarded! I can’t tell you about Gmail, as I usually use the POP3 interface instead. However, my iShare surveys use the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service as their base demographic and have pretty balanced gender split, so perhaps the figure is representative of the average mobile phone user. I’d also have liked to have seen a reason why people use the forwarding services.
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And using the internet is also popular in net cafes, according to these astonishing results into manga cafes from Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Between the 2nd and 4th of December 2009 300 members of the Marsh online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was 50:50 male and female, 1.3% in their teens, 18.7% 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.

Interesting, although the Japanese for net cafe is basically the English term and manga cafe is the equally short manga kissa, they are often further abbreviated to necafe and… well, I’m not actually sure how to pronounce the abbreviation, but it’s either man-kiss, man-ki or man-kitsu, and I secretly hope it’s the first of the three.

Oh, and as to the difference between the two, I suspect it is more branding than any specific difference in facilities.

Research results

Q1: Have you ever used an internet cafe or a manga kissa? (Sample size=300)

Yes (to SQ1)	44.3%
No	53.7%
Don’t know what an internet cafe or manga kissa is	2.0%

The usage percentage is up two percentage points from a similar survey in May.

Q1SQ1: What sorts of things do you mainly do in internet cafes, manga kissas? (Sample size=133)

	Votes	Percentage
Read manga	103	77.4%
Use internet, computer (to SQ2)	89	66.9%
Eat, drink	38	28.6%
Watch DVD, video	21	15.8%
Sleep	18	13.5%
Read other books	17	12.8%
Play console games	8	6.0%
Take a shower	5	3.8%
Other	3	2.3%

Q1SQ2: What sorts of things do you do on computers in internet cafes, manga kissas? (Sample size=89)

	Votes	Percentage
View web sites	85	95.5%
Send, receive email	39	43.8%
Watch movies	20	22.5%
Read, write to bulletin boards	18	20.2%
Social Network Services	16	18.0%
Update my blog, web site	13	14.6%
Play online game	12	13.5%
Print out stuff	12	13.5%
Work	10	11.2%
Chat	5	5.6%
Other	0	0.0%

Apparently there has been somewhat of a trend regarding men becoming more interested in skin care, so this survey from iShare took a look at giving and receiving of make-up kits.

Demographics

Between the 11th and 16th of November 2009 514 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.0% of the sample were male, 33.9% in their twenties, 30.0% in their thirties, and 36.2% in their forties.

I only use my wife’s left-over hand cream during the winter, as my skin does try out very easily this weather. I don’t think I’d really be that happy to receive a make-up pouch for my Christmas, though.

In Japanese, they use a Japanicised version of the French term coffret to describe such a skin care or make-up set.
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The new government in Japan seems to have been conducting an awful lot of surveys recently, with the latest one from the Cabinet Office Japan being on a gender-equal society. This survey was last conducted five years ago and translated three years ago.

Demographics

5,000 adults over the age of twenty were selected at random from all over the country, and an attempt was made to conduct face-to-face interviews with them over the period of the 1st to 18th of October 2009. 3,240 people, or 64,8%, were available and agreed to take part. 53.4% of the sample were female, 9.8% in their twenties, 14.6% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 19.0% in their fifties, 22.2% in their sixties and 18.1% aged seventy or older. 48.5% were emploted, 9.9% self-employed, 3.7% in the family business, and 37.9% homemakers, studens, or retired. 74.6% were married, 0.7% were unmarried but living with their partner, 4.3% divorced, 5.7% widowed, and 14.8% unmarried. Finally, 77.6% had children.

Q10SQ is a bit of a strange set of answers to me, although perhaps it is just my intellectual thought processes that say exposure to those who don’t want to see it is not really the fault of the media on the whole. I would also put the objectification of women much higher up the ranking, but I don’t think there is the same degree of awareness in Japan as in the west.
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The new government in Japan seems to have been conducting an awful lot of surveys recently, with the latest one from the Cabinet Office Japan being on a gender-equal society. This survey was last conducted five years ago and translated three years ago.

Demographics

5,000 adults over the age of twenty were selected at random from all over the country, and an attempt was made to conduct face-to-face interviews with them over the period of the 1st to 18th of October 2009. 3,240 people, or 64,8%, were available and agreed to take part. 53.4% of the sample were female, 9.8% in their twenties, 14.6% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 19.0% in their fifties, 22.2% in their sixties and 18.1% aged seventy or older. 48.5% were emploted, 9.9% self-employed, 3.7% in the family business, and 37.9% homemakers, studens, or retired. 74.6% were married, 0.7% were unmarried but living with their partner, 4.3% divorced, 5.7% widowed, and 14.8% unmarried. Finally, 77.6% had children.

Q1 is pretty depressing, but also pretty accurate, with school education being about the only thing that seems to be relatively balanced.
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This survey from goo Ranking is more than likely to put you off your food, with a look at what canned foods people might like to try.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 26th of October 2009 1,162 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 62.9% of the sample were female, 10.5% in their teens, 20.7% in their twenties, 30.8% in their thirties, 21.9% in their forties, 9.0% in their fifties, and 7.0% aged sixty or older.

Canned Fuji air is hardly a foodstuff, but we’ll let that one go. Looking at the list, there’s nothing I fancy eating…
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First, what is moe? I’d like to explain in my own words, but I’d probably irritate half my readership, so instead here is a casual essay and a more formal look at what it means.

A fad at the moment is sticking cute cartoon girls on everything, so this quicky from goo Ranking looked at to what items they couldn’t see the need for the addition of moe characters.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 26th of October 2009 1,162 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 62.9% of the sample were female, 10.5% in their teens, 20.7% in their twenties, 30.8% in their thirties, 21.9% in their forties, 9.0% in their fifties, and 7.0% aged sixty or older.

A moe toolbox will go well with your ita-sha, and as for a moe CV book, perhaps only necessary if you wanted a job at a maid cafe.
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It’s getting towards the end of the year, so let’s have a look back at the top news and items from 2009 in this survey from Marcomill Inc.

Demographics

Over the 4th and 5th of December 2009 1,000 members of the Macromill monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sexes were split exactly 50:50, and 25.0% were in their twenties, 25.0% in their thirties, 25.0% in their forties, and 25.0% between 50 and 69 years old.

My top news would be the DPJ’s victory, the arrest of Ichihashi, and the press reaction to the Noriko Sakai drugs bust. Top topical items would be the iPhone 3GS (I’m surprised it didn’t make it), the 1,000 yen toll road traffic jams, and the Odaiba Gundam. What’s yours?
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