With the iPhone era in Japan now about three weeks old, and with previous surveys showing vast numbers of people willing to sell their own grannies in exchange for an iPhone, this survey from BlogCh into the iPhone, conducted the weekend after the release of the Jesus Phone shows a bit about how the Japanese have reacted.
Demographics
Between the 18th and 22nd of July 2008 433 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 65.8% of the sample were female, 9.9% in their teens, 28.2% in their twenties, 43.2% in their thirties, 15.0% in their forties, and 3.7% aged fifty or older.
The sample size is a bit small, as is the number of purchasers from the sample, so it is a bit difficult to extrapolate the numbers, but I’ll of course keep my eyes peeled for further data in the coming months. However, just 3 people are planning to buy later, which does suggest that the euphoria has passed. Despite being cheaper than first predicted by me, cost scares off more than two in five.
I know at least two of my Japanese readers were more than willing to kick the SoftBank dog out of the way (and perhaps even the SoftBank lady out of bed) to get their hands on an iPhone, but I’ve not seen any English-language reviews of how it performs in Japan. Drop me a line if you know of any, and I’ll link to them from here. Read the rest of this entry »
Perhaps the headline is a little misleading, given that so much television in Japan can be found on the internet, and places like Nico-Nico Douga can make it interactive (but lets ignore the copyright issues), so perhaps the results of this survey from JR Tokai Express Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into television and internet are not as cut and dried as they seem.
Demographics
Over the 16th and 17th of July 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 61.5% of the sample were female (a surprisingly, if not suspiciously, high figure for JR Tokai) 17.9% were in their twenties, 37.0% in their thirties, 27.3% in their forties, 12.4% in their fifties, and 5.5% in their sixties.
When a similar survey was conducted two years ago (which I am sure I translated, but I cannot find it!), television won in the fun stakes, but despite the wider availability of digital television with more interactivity and One Seg becoming a standard feature on most mobiles, and despite digital video recorders allowing users to watch television when they want to, broadcasting has lost out to computers. I’d love to know what exactly people found fun or not fun about both media and what has become more or less fun in the last two years; perhaps that information is available in the full survey. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m back from holidays, so normal service will be resumed from today. To kick things off, here’s one from JR Tokai Express Research Inc and published by japan.internet.com looking into P2P (peer to peer) file-sharing software.
Demographics
On the 29th of July 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research monitor panel employed in public or private industry completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 73.6% of the sample were male, 8.8% in their twenties, 36.4% in their thirties, 41.2% in their forties, and 13.6% in their fifties. The Japanese text said in one place it was only those in private industry interviewed, but in another that it was both public and private; and in one place people from their twenties to sixties, but the percentage breakdown did not mention anything about people in their sixties…
In Q2, one category that is omitted is legitimate software, either shareware or Linux and other GPLed contents.
Between the 21st and 23th of May 2008 1,072 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. Exactly 50% of the sample were male, 5.7% in their teens, 12.9% in their twenties, 31.8% in their thirties, 27.5% in their forties, 11.3% in their fifties, and 10.8% 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.
Not being much of a manga reader myself, and certainly not of the weekly phone directory-sized comics, I cannot really comment on this. However, no doubt some of my readers might inform me of the conclusions, so if you don’t want to get endings spoilt, please stop reading now! Read the rest of this entry »
With at least two manufacturers of generic medicines advertising on television, this recent survey from goo Research conducted in conjunction with the Yomiuri Shimbun, revealed a high degree of awareness of generic medicines in Japan.
Demographics
Over the end of May and the start of June 2008 1,010 members of the goo Research monitor panel aged forty or older completed a private internet-based questionnaire. More detailed demographics were not given.
I can’t be bothered with generics as I infrequently take medicines with generic substitutes, and the only one I tke regularly is still under patent, so there’s no generic alternative available.
Here’s an advertisement that often appears that asks people to pluck up the courage to ask the quack for an alternative.
Between the 4th and 16th of June 2008 1,200 citizens between 15 and 79 years of age were randomly selected from all over the country, weighted based on data from the 2005 national census. The questionnaires were taken by a combination of face-to-face interviews and self-completed questionnaires. There is no information about how refusals to take part or other failures to collect data were dealt with. 50.4% of the sample were female, 6.2% in their teens, 15.1% in their twenties, 17.9% in their thirties, 15.3% in their forties, 18.3% in their fifties, 13.2% in their sixties, and 11.3% in their seventies.
Following on from recent western press coverage on the topic, I was wondering if metabo, the Japanese abbreviation for the English metabolic syndrome might get re-imported back into English. I can think only of anime as a precedent, but in English anime usually only refers to Japanese animation, not all kinds.
Japanese feel that flush of success when they can empty their minds and bowels of concern, it seems! This recent survey from goo Ranking perhaps revealed more about constipation than thought processes when they looked at where good ideas come from; we westerners can be proud that the replacement of squat toilets with sit-down lavvies has contributed so much to the Japanese creative process.
Demographics
Between the 21st and 23th of May 2008 1,072 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. Exactly 50% of the sample were male, 5.7% in their teens, 12.9% in their twenties, 31.8% in their thirties, 27.5% in their forties, 11.3% in their fifties, and 10.8% 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.
My good ideas requiring inventive thinking most often come at bathtime; indeed my last two patents both formed in the tub. The loo is out of the question for me as I’m usually in and out rather swiftly, but the train is probably second-best as I’m quite often in either work or homework mode.
In Europe or Asia may seem like strange answers at first glance, but thinking about it it perhaps reflects seeing something novel; I know last year when I went back to the UK I got a number of ideas about what might be profitable ways to make money on the internet.
This is a fascinating topic, which reveals quite a generational gap for how people spent their honeymoon. The survey was conducted by goo Research in conjuction with AllAbout Japan.
Demographics
Over the 15th and 16th of May 2008 1,080 married women from the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 20.1% of the sample were between 25 and 29 years old, 20.4% between 30 and 34, 19.9% between 50 and 54, 19.7% between 55 and 59, and 19.9% between 60 and 64 years old. For those who may have remarried, it doesn’t say if they should answer for their current marriage or for all.
My honeymoon was all over Europe – wedding in Scotland, then to Amsterdam where we got our video nicked, then Austria and Germany in slightly posher hotels. We’ve since been back to just about everywhere, except for Amsterdam, of course! We took about 16 days for it, although the guests we had to drag along from Japan stayed just three days, which seemed such a gross waste of time and expense, most of it ours. Read the rest of this entry »
This is a fascinating topic, which reveals quite a generational gap for how people spent their honeymoon. The survey was conducted by goo Research in conjuction with AllAbout Japan.
Demographics
Over the 15th and 16th of May 2008 1,080 married women from the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 20.1% of the sample were between 25 and 29 years old, 20.4% between 30 and 34, 19.9% between 50 and 54, 19.7% between 55 and 59, and 19.9% between 60 and 64 years old. For those who may have remarried, it doesn’t say if they should answer for their current marriage or for all.
My honeymoon was all over Europe – wedding in Scotland, then to Amsterdam where we got our video nicked, then Austria and Germany in slightly posher hotels. We’ve since been back to just about everywhere, except for Amsterdam, of course! We took about 16 days for it, although the guests we had to drag along from Japan stayed just three days, which seemed such a gross waste of time and expense, most of it ours. Read the rest of this entry »
A few months have passed since Blu-ray emerged as the victor from the next generation high capacity optical disk format wars, so this recent survey from Marsh and reported on by japan.internet.com on digital television program recording also had a look at people’s purchasing plans.
Demographics
Between the 3rd and 8th of July 2008 300 members of the Marsh online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.0% of the sample were female, 20.0% 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 went digital a couple of months ago with a Panasonic DiGa (I was going to link to the official US site, but it’s broken…), which is rather nice except for a slightly slow boot-up time; it’s about 30 seconds from power on until it’s ready to go. Mind you, I don’t really use the thing myself, leaving it mostly up to the wife to record. We’ve not filled up the hard disk yet; the super long-play mode gives us 400 hours, so we’re only half-full so far, even though we record two or three programs per day.
Blu-ray is still far too expensive, and as we don’t have a handy video shop (and more than enough movies queued up anyway!) there’s no real appeal. Read the rest of this entry »