世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s a short but often sweet survey from goo Ranking looking at what foods people choose from the outside appearance more than the stuff inside.

Demographics

Between the 18th and 24th of September 2009 1,156 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 63.8% of the sample were female, 10.1% in their teens, 20.8% in their twenties, 30.0% in their thirties, 23.4% in their forties, 9.3% in their fifties, and 6.4% 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. This does seem like a rather unusual demographic spread for goo Research.

Note, most of the links below are affiliate links trying to sell you cute cellphone charms…
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The poor herbivore boys have been beaten to death by both me and the mainstream press, so let’s dance on their graves with goo Ranking at why herbivore boys don’t have girlfriends. I promise that this will be my last mention of herbivore boys! Probably…

Demographics

Between the 18th and 24th of September 2009 1,156 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 63.8% of the sample were female, 10.1% in their teens, 20.8% in their twenties, 30.0% in their thirties, 23.4% in their forties, 9.3% in their fifties, and 6.4% 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. This does seem like a rather unusual demographic spread for goo Research.

When I was a herbivore boy it was probably number 3 and number 6 for me.
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One of the last great acts of the ex-Prime Minister Taro Aso was to propose a palace to celebrate his favourite hobby, manga. The new government cancelled the plans, but Meiji University has proposed its own library of manga, anime and doujinshi, basically self-published manga, often based on professional works, and often rather adult-themed. To see what their rather geeky members thought, iShare conducted this survey into manga and anime sub-culture.

Demographics

Between the 26th and 28th of October 2009 456 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.3% of the sample were male, 31.8% in their twenties, 33.8% in their thirties, and 34.4% in their forties.

I thought Aso’s Anime Palace was a collosal waste, but I support to some extent the effort by Meiji University to collect together this significant sub-culture, even though most of the figurine and doujinshi gives me the willies.
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The power of Google, or more probably Yahoo! in the case of Japan, was revealed by this recent survey from Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com into blog services.

Demographics

Between the 28th and 30th of October 2009 300 members of the Marsh online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was 50:50 male and female, 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 don’t think I’ve added a new blog to my regular reading list for a while, but the last Japan-related one I added was either through JapanSoc or Japan Probe‘s headline list.

Another blog I’ve recently started reading regularly was found through a Google news RSS feed for one of my other blogs.

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My wife is one of these frigid women, as her feet and hands are often painfully cold even on warm days, a sympton shared with many others of both sexes according to this survey from iShare into taking measures to address cold extermities.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 26th of October 2009 544 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.4% of the sample were male, 35.8% in their twenties, 32.4% in their thirties, and 31.8% in their forties.

I’ve read a bit of research that suggested that stiff shoulders is a cultural thing; under conditions where many westerners report headaches, Japanese report stiff shoulders; however, ethinically Japanese people brought up in the west tend to report headaches rather than stiff shoulders. Therefore, I wonder if cold hands and feet are a similar issue, as poor circulation or narrowed blood vessels is one cause of both stiff shoulders and cold extremities.
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Here’s a very interesting survey from Point On Research, reported on by japan.internet.com, into reading news on mobile phones.

Demographics

On the 10th of Novermber 2009 800 mobile phone users completed a mobile pone-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, 25.0% in their teens, 25.0% in their twenties, 25.0% in their thirties, and 25.0% in their forties.

I’ll add a caveat that as well as the survey being for mobile phone users only, these mobile-only surveys tend to favour heavy users rather than just the average mobile phone user, so there is a degree of bias here.

I can get headlines for free from my mobile phone, but I never find it worth the bother – on the way back home from work I can just peer at other people’s evening papers, and anyway I usually get home in time to see 10 or 15 minutes of news, so I can quite happily live without the latest headlines on my mobile.
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Almost all phones in Japan these days can download applications in one form or another, so this survey from goo Research, reported on by japan.internet.com, looked at the use of mobile applications.

Demographics

Between the 28th and 31st of October 2009 1,071 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.6% of the sample were male, 16.3% in their teens, 18.2% in their twenties, 21.7% in their thirties, 15.9% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 12.1% aged sixty or older.

The original Japanese article headlined the story with “Over half of iPhone users use applications daily”, but there was only 36 owners, or 3.7%, in the sample, so the main focus will be on the standard Japanese Java-based world.

In Q3, don’t ask me what the difference between a simulator and a simulation is!
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Recently, goo Research conducted their second regular keitai novel (mobile phone novel) survey, which was reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Between the 26th and 29th of October 2009 1,073 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.8% in their teens, 21.3% in their twenties, 21.3% in their thirties, 16.5% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 11.9% aged sixty or older.

Note that here a keitai novel (“keitai” is short for “keitai denwa”, “portable phone”) is a novel written especially for mobile phones, and often written itself on a mobile phone, rather than just the electronic version of a paper novel consumed on a mobile phone. Hopefully those answering the questions here were fully aware of that distinction!

It would be interesting to see what percentage of people had read the same book in both formats, and the number of books in each format.
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Today’s bit of fun from goo Ranking looks at the moment you realise someone you’ve got your eye on is not girlfriend or boyfriend material, for both men looking at women and women looking at men.

Demographics

Between the 18th and 24th of September 2009 1,156 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 63.8% of the sample were female, 10.1% in their teens, 20.8% in their twenties, 30.0% in their thirties, 23.4% in their forties, 9.3% in their fifties, and 6.4% 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. This does seem like a rather unusual demographic spread for goo Research.
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People sleeping on the train, or feigning sleep so they don’t need to give up their seat, is a staple feature of the Japanese rail system, and something that I do most mornings too. The worry about sleeping past your stop was the subject tackled by this recent survey from iShare.

Demographics

Between the 12th and 15th of October 2009 568 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.1% of the sample were male, 34.7% in their twenties, 31.2% in their thirties, and 34.2% in their forties.

Despite needing three trains to get to and from work every day, I’ve never actually slept past my stop, although more than once or twice I’ve woken up after the train has stopped and had to fight my way through the boarding hoards to get off. My first train in the morning is all the way to the end of the line, so I have once been woken by a fellow passenger as I was still dead to the world when we got to the terminal.
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