Between the 23th and 29th of December 2008 709 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 55.0% of the sample were male, 12.1% in their twenties, 47.5% in their thirties, 30.7% in their forties, 7.6% in their fifties, and 2.0% in their teens or aged sixty or older.
I’d put Osaka higher up the list in Q1, but I’m biased! I’d also put Kanazawa higher, as it’s Kyoto without so many tourists, and I really enjoyed the one time I visited.
I wouldn’t subject anyone to Japanese curry, but I’d put Japanese-style snacks higher. I think that refers to Japanese flavours in Western-style sweets like chestnut Kit-Kats or wasabi (horseradish-like) flavoured crisps, rather than traditional Japanese confectionary based around bean-paste.
Judging by another survey, water-squirting toilets are popular amongst the foreign population, but game arcades and Scissors-Paper-Stone are hardly unique Japanese features. On the other hand, some of the machines in Japanese arcades have to be seen to be believed, so perhaps the first is a good choice! Read the rest of this entry »
For Japan, between the 5th and 17th of November 2008 1,200 people aged between 15 and 79 were chosen from all over the country at random from residents information and answered the survey either face-to-face or were left with the questionnaire. For China, between the 13th and 19th of November 2008 1,266 people between the ages of 18 and 59 from the 15 largest cities in China completed an internet-based questionnaire.
In the environmental questions in Q5, perhaps surprisingly China is more concerned than Japan about them, but when one looks at their particular worries, Chinese citizens are worried about the immediate threat from airborne and water pollution, this result being reflected in their distrust of their own food products.
I would like to visit the Great Wall of China and see the Terracotta warriors in their home settings, but I worry about being able to find veggie food and about the general level of hygene in the country. Read the rest of this entry »
Between the 17th and 19th of December 2008 402 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.7% of the sample were male, 15.4% in their twenties, 45.0% in their thirties, 32.3% in their forties, and 7.2% in either their teens or aged fifty or older.
Given SoftBank’s image in the title, it does seem appropriate that they supply Mickey Mouse phones.
Although I feel Starbucks’ drinks resemble coffee in the same way that happoshu resembles beer (but without the low price tag), plenty of people love them, as this recent survey from iShare into star ratings for coffee chains shows.
Demographics
Between the 19th and 22nd of December 2008 441 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.5% of the sample were male, 14.1% in their twenties, 44.4% in their thirties, 31.1% in their forties, and 10.4% in their teens or aged fifty or older.
Having said that I dislike Starbucks, I saw a poster outside one of their shops to say they now have seasonal tea lattes which did look nice, but not nice enough to tempt me inside.
My favourite chain is Kobe-based (although I did find one near Tokyo Tower once) and called UCC (Ueshima Coffee Company), with their green tea latte being a particularly fine drink. Read the rest of this entry »
In Japan too the New Year brings sales, so this survey from the curiously-named RealWorld RealResearch and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at New Year digital home electrics purchases.
Demographics
On the 4th of January 2009 1,201 members of the RealWorld RealResearch monitor panel completed presumably a private internet-based questionnaire. 59.1% of the sample were male, 8.7% in their teens, 7.4% in their twenties, 20.8% in their thirties, 12.8% in their forties, 27.6% in their fifties, and 22.6% aged sixty or older. (That’s a rather unusual age distribution!)
I didn’t buy any digital electronics, although I did get a room humidifier and some blank DVDs. Most of the items I need to buy are very digital on the inside but boring old white goods on the outside, such as a rice cooker as our current one’s non-stick is coming unstuck, and no doubt very soon I’ll also need a new washing machine as it’s on its last legs. Read the rest of this entry »
Between the 24th and 26th of September 2008 1,044 members of the goo Research online monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.6% of the sample were male, 5.8% in their teens, 12.7% in their twenties, 32.3% in their thirties, 27.6% in their forties, 12.3% in their fifties, and 9.3% 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 think I manage just about everything on the list, except perhaps pot noodles. However, our biggest stock which I wish we (she!) would throw away is the millions of paper and plastic bags we get free when shopping! Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s another fun look at the sexes courtesy of goo Ranking, this time considering when people feel it they don’t need a partner, for both men not needed women and women not needing men.
Demographics
Between the 21st and 23rd of November 2008 1,083 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.4% of the sample were female, 9.0% in their teens, 15.7% in their twenties, 29.1% in their thirties, 25.5% in their forties, 11.3% in their fifties, and 9.4% 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.
Although the actual question was in the past tense, I translated everything in the present tense to give it more of a sense of urgency.
For me, I think my most common moment was when I listened to The Smiths! Other times combined both 1 and 9, when I went on trips to watch Grands Prix in both Japan and Malaysia Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s an interesting topic from MyVoice: since last year was the 29th anniversary of the animation character Kinnikuman, they performed a survey on that very topic of Kinnikuman, which translates as Muscleman.
Demographics
Over the first five days of December 2008 14,858 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 1% in their teens, 16% in their twenties, 36% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 8% aged fifty or older.
If you’re wondering why the 29th anniversary, the digits 2 and 9 may be read as ni and ku. Additionally, the Kin in his name can also mean Friday, so kin-ni-ku is Friday 29th, which is why that becomes Kinnikuman Day.
If you want more than enough information on Kinnikuman in Japanese, there is the Nikupedia, which as the names suggests is a version of Wikipedia dedicated to Kinnikuman.
For a bit of trivia relevant to English speakers (by the way, the characters were released in the USA in the mid-eighties as M.U.S.C.L.E), the ending theme song for one of the series was sung by Kent Derricott, a Mormon missionary to Japan who became a television personality over here. Here is the video proof:
I cannot wait until Sunday to be silly with this one (and anyway, I’ve got a better one lined up for then), a survey from iShare looking at UMA, Unidentified Mysterious Animals, or cryptozoological beasts.
Demographics
Between the 9th and 11th of December 2008 430 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.7% of the sample were male, 10.7% in their twenties, 51.9% in their thirties, 29.8% in their forties, and 7.7% in their teens or fifty or older.
For me, I wouldn’t want Nessie to exist as it would probably destroy a lot of the tourist trade! I’d love to see a real kappa, however. I’m not sure what the New Nessie is, but here’s a video via Japan Probe of the Old Nessie visiting Tokyo.
Last month’s survey on Blu-ray and HD DVD was rightly criticised for rather dubious data, let alone the small sample size, so hopefully I can make amends with this detailed report from DIMSDRIVE into Blu-ray recorders.
Demographics
Between the 15th and 30th of October 2008 9,141 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.1% of the sample were male, 1.2% in their teens, 12.8% in their twenties, 33.1% in their thirties, 30.5% in their forties, 15.% in their fifties, and 7.2% aged sixty or older. By household salary, 7.4% earned less than 2 million yen a year, 20.1% less than 4 million yen, 23.5% less than 6 million yen, 15.5% less than 8 million yen, 10.2% less than 10 million yen, 7.8% less than 15 million yen, and 1.9% over 15 million yen. 13.6% didn’t know or declined to answer.
When I reported last month’s survey it got picked up by an obscure corner of Kotaku, which was then picked up by another online mag and featured prominently, even getting onto Google News UK’s front page, but any credit to me got lost on the way. Mind you, if I had got a link back, I’d probably have had my old server blow up even earlier!
Eikichi Yazawa is an aging rocker who features in Sony adverts like this one:
Today’s survey is from not just Japan, but also from China, in a wide-ranging survey from Gallup International conducted into the matters of 
Although I feel Starbucks’ drinks resemble coffee in the same way that 
In Japan too the New Year brings sales, so this survey from the curiously-named RealWorld RealResearch and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at 
Here’s an interesting topic from MyVoice: since last year was the 29th anniversary of the animation character Kinnikuman, they performed a survey on that very topic of 
Last month’s survey on 
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