世論 What Japan Thinks

Well, given the sample internet population that replied to this questionnaire that headline is true, as revealed by a recent survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into internet auctions.

Demographics

Between the 5th and 7th of January 2009 1,027 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.0% of the sample were male, 16.4% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.7% in their fifties, and 12.1% aged sixty or older.

I’ve never participated in an internet auction, as the worry about getting ripped-off outweighs any financial benefit that I feel I would gain from using it.

If you want to take part in a Japanese auction but live overseas, one easy way is through a Japan-based representative, with Rinku being one well-known example.
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A recent survey from iShare on a favourite topic of mine, Japanese aversion for dentists, took a slightly different and rather interesting look at the oft-covered matter of Japanese teeth.

Demographics

Between the 14th and 17th of January 2009 468 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private online questionnaire. 52.6% of the sample were male, 11.3% in their twenties, 53.2% in their thirties, 26.3% in their forties, 6.4% in their fifties, and 2.8% either in their teens or aged sixty or older.

I actually need to go to the dentist (it’s 9 months since my last cleaning) but… I don’t really like phones in English, so Japanese is twice as bad! The dentist himself I can most strongly recommend, and his prices are quite reasonable, especially compared to the ham-fisted thief that my wife visits.
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Widgets are now even finding their way onto mobile phones (now that would be an interesting survey!), but this survey from RealWorld RealResearch and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at widgets (or gadgets) on computer desktops.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of January 2009 1,020 members of the RealResearch monitor pool completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.6% of the sample were male, 7.3% in their teens, 27.4% in their twenties, 30.9% in their thirties, 25.4% in their forties, 7.5% in their fifties, and 1.6% aged sixty or older.

I looked a while ago at widgets according to MyVoice, which might be a useful cross-reference for this survey.

I don’t use widgets as they clutter up the desktop; I keep all my add-ons under control in toolbars. Perhaps if I invested in a wide-screen monitor I could afford to reserve some space, but then again I cannot think of any widgets I actually want to use! However, at work around half my colleagues run a desktop calendar widget, however as far as I can determine it doesn’t feature (or nobody uses) any schedule reminder functions.

In Q2, you’ll note it interesting that an RSS reading widget did not appear explicitly on the list. Although RSS is not that popular in Japan, I would have thought it merited its own category rather than, perhaps, being lumped into the “site or service latest information” category. I’d also have thought music players would be more popular.
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Hair preening in the subway is a combination of actions from the list below that most irritates me, this list being from goo Ranking looking at what actions make one think you might be a narcissist, for both women and men.

Demographics

Between the 18th and 22nd of December 2008 1,039 members of the goo Research monitor pool completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The reported sex split was exactly 50.00% male and 50.00% female, a figure that one will instantly see is wrong, so for the sake of argument I’ll round it up to 520 females and down to 519 males. 7.6% of the sample were in their teens, 15.6% in their twenties, 28.0% in their thirties, 27.6% in their forties, 10.9% in their fifties, and 10.3% 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.

I don’t think I suffer from any of the flaws noted below, as I cannot be a narcissist as it is impossible to improve on perfection.

On the other hand, I think my wife scores more than 50%…
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Sadly the most important question, “Do you think Feng Shui is a load of cobblers?” was not asked, although given the love of blood typing, this recent survey from iShare into Feng Shui would probably have shown a disappointingly high percentage of believers.

Demographics

Between the 7th and 10th of January 2009 412 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private online questionnaire. 55.1% of the sample were male, 13.3% in their twenties, 46.8% in their thirties, 32.3% in their forties, and 7.5% either in their teens or aged fifty or older.

In Japanese Feng Shui is written using the same wind and water characters as for Chinese, but the pronounciation is slightly different, Fuu Sui. The biggest Feng Shui con artist practitioner in Japan is Doctor Copa, whose advise mostly seems to consist of sticking ugly single-colour plastic objects in strategic locations.
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Like I did, you’re probably wondering what on earth a Range Up product is. It is another made-up Japanese-style English (和製英語, wasei eigo) that means microwave-ready food that can be stored at room temperature. Range is from the Japanese for microwave oven, denshi range, and Up is probably from heat up. So, with the definitions out the way, let up proceed to this look by MyVoice at said Range Up products.

Demographics

Over the first five days of January 2009 13,771 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 1% in their teens, 13% in their twenties, 37% in their thirties, 31% in their forties, and 18% aged fifty or older.

I’ve not eaten these kinds of dishes myself, in fact I can’t remember seeing them ever, although I did have a friend who swore by the individual portions of rice, as they were just right for single people who couldn’t be bothered with the whole bother of a rice cooker. In fact, one will not that rice-based dishes feature very prominantly in Q2.
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As a sort-of follow-up on my earlier post on Wikipedia’s dominance of Japanese search engines, here’s a survey from Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com into Wikipedia.

Demographics

On the 13th of January 2009 300 members of the Research Plus monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.3% of the sample were male, 15.7% in their twenties, 37.0% in their thirties, 32.3% in their forties, 11.7% in their fifties, and 3.3% in their sixties.

It’s interesting to see that only a third of the Wikipedia users saw the request for donations as it was a very large banner, indicating a degree of ad blindness even higher than for contextual advertising.
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With the economic gloom building, here is a timely look with MyVoice at economising in daily life.

Demographics

Over the first five days of January 2009 13,932 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed an online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 1% were in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 37% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 18% aged fifty or older.

I was saving money on most things last year, and this year will see further savings given the possibility of all overtime being stopped and having had the more immediate shock of getting a 20,000 yen gas bill for last month.

Of course, rather than economising I want more income (AdSense has died a death!), and to that end I have three new web site ideas in the pipeline and one renewal of an older property, but more of that in other posts!

Finally, before I forget, be sure to check out Nihon Hacks for how to save money in Japan.
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Well, not really secret, but what people do at home that they don’t want others to see, for both men and women, a ranking survey performed by goo Ranking.

Demographics

Between the 18th and 22nd of December 2008 1,039 members of the goo Research monitor pool completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The reported sex split was exactly 50.00% male and 50.00% female, a figure that one will instantly see is wrong, so for the sake of argument I’ll round it up to 520 females and down to 519 males. 7.6% of the sample were in their teens, 15.6% in their twenties, 28.0% in their thirties, 27.6% in their forties, 10.9% in their fifties, and 10.3% 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.

I’d probably have to say seeing me in my casual clothes (hmm, that didn’t feature anywhere in the answers!) as many of them are selected by my wife or just hand-me-downs – I’m currently wearing a Kewpie sweatshirt under a hoodie with some rather dubiously unmasculine images on the back, so whenever I go to the mailbox or to throw out rubbish I pray no-one sees me!

The photo at the head of the article comes from cellardoore on flickr.
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Despite SoftBank, WillCom and E-Mobile offering free voice calls to other customers of the same company (given certain conditions and/or payments), and au and docomo offering free calls amongst families, this recent survey reported on by japan.internet.com and conducted by Point On Research into mobile phone voice calls shows not too much take-up of such offers.

Demographics

On the 18th of January 2009 1,000 mobile phone users from the Point On monitor group completed a private internet-based survey, although there is no information to say if they use mobile internet or computer-based. The sample was exactly 50.0% male, 20.0% 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 very rarely make voice calls – even several times a month is too high a frequency for me. I only ever call my wife, and even though she can call me for free, we just use email as it’s far more practical especially since my commute is 90% inside a train.
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