世論 What Japan Thinks

Your second dose of silly Sunday surveys for today! This time looking at what trivial things people end up quarreling with their other half over, for both men and women.

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.

I’m too laid-back to start arguments (or too scared to try…), but from the woman’s perspective number one is probably the worst one for setting the wife off, and I know better than to get involved in arguments about number ten!
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Here’s a look with goo Ranking at what the top reasons the Japanese think is great about Japan and their fellow Japanese.

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.

I’ve previously presented another survey on why the Japanese like being Japanese, and this one too will no doubt induce groans and eye-rolling within my readership!

Surprisingly but thankfully, most of the feedback from Japanese reading the survey seems to have been pretty negative.
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With yesterday’s G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit survey showing that most people were hoping to see something done about global warming, this survey from MyVoice on the environment explorers these green issues a bit further.

Demographics

Over the first five days of June 2008 13,867 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% in their teens, 15% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 20% in their forties, and 16% in their fifties.

I’ve noticed recently that The Register is publishing a number of sceptical articles about the whole global warming business. It’s well-researched (I hope!) stuff, with two recent articles looking at why wind power is maybe not that great and is the North Pole being ice-free really that much of an issue? It’s well worth a read, and not the usual anti-Gore nonsense one often sees.
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With the G8 summit starting next week and most of Japan in lock-down mode, it is quite timely to look at this survey from goo Research, conducted in conjunction with the Yomiuri Shimbun (their 84th joint survey, just in case you’re interested), into the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit.

Demographics

In the middle of June 1,088 members of the goo Research online monitor panel aged 18 or over completed an internet-based questionnaire. No further demographic information was provided.

There is definitely an over-the-top police visibility even here in Kansai, well away from the venue; even though we had foreign minister and environment minister meetings here last month, if anything the policing has got more visible since they finished. I don’t share “The sky is falling!” panic that many fellow foreigners (and ex-foreigners) are in, and I’m glad that they are being strict at immigration regarding the anti-G8 demonstrators with their worthless press credentials handed out by the organisers of anti-G8 protests.
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I’m gobsmacked that a smack in the gob is considered acceptable corporal punishment by about three in five Japanese! This is just one result from a genuinely shocking survey on corporal punishment.

Demographics

Between the 23rd and 25th of June 2008 467 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a pirvate internet-based questionnaire. 52% of the sample were male, 13.9% in their twenties, 46.0% in their thirties, 31.9% in their forties, and 8.1% of other ages.

I hope I’m not making a huge mistake with the translation here, as the results are so counter-intuitive to my western mind. In Q4, I think the question is what people think is appropriate as a means of punishment for students. Any advice on the correctness or otherwise of this assumption is most welcome. I’m also a bit shakey on Q2.

The Japanese phrase used for corporal punishment in this survey is 愛のムチ, ai no muchi, which translated as “tough love”. According to Japanese law I believe it is banned in school, although according to many people I know who work in Japanese schools it is very much alive and kicking.
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The summer seeing the launch of DoCoMo’s new 906 and 706 series, and new ranges from SoftBank and au that don’t fall under a nice name umbrella, and I’ve heard a rumour or two about a new phone from Canada or somewhere made by I think Microsoft and called the zPHune, but perhaps I misheard. Anyway, this survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at this as part of their 38th regular survey into mobile upgrade needs.

Demographics

Between the 16th and 19th of June 2008 exactly 1,000 mobile phone users from the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.1% of the sample were female, 1.9% in their teens, 15.2% in their twenties, 38.0% in their thirties, 28.6% in their forties, and 16.3% aged fifty or older.

I’ve got no intention of upgrading right now, although when I get round to it (after my winter bonus?) the only important feature will be One Seg digital terrestrial television support, and I’ll be buying a summer model then as they’ll be affordable. However, I’m not sure if I’ll actually watch TV on a mobile, but I’d like to have a phone that gave me the option, just in case.
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In anticipation of the launch of the iPhone through SoftBank – no, no, please continue reading, this isn’t another iPhone survey, but I must admit it is related – MyVoice decided to conduct a survey into touch panel-equipped mobile devices.

Demographics

Over the first five days of June 2008 13,960 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 1% in their teens, 15% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 16% in their fifties.

In Q1, not surprisingly the Nintendo DS and other touch screen games are out in front, but second is digital camera. Are there that many out there? Similarly the non-iPod touch music player percentage seems a little high to me. I also think a PDA would fall under the “mobile information terminal” classification.

Here’s a short video of the touch-screen cellphone you’re all waiting for…

Given the lifestyle (or to be cynical, lack-of-lifestyle) of the average company employee, it’s no surprise that functional foods like nutritionally-balanced foods are rather popular over here. This recent survey from DIMSDRIVE Research Inc tried to find out most about this topic of nutritionally-balanced foods.

Demographics

Between the 16th and 24th of April 2008 8,477 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.6% of the sample were female, 0.6% in their teens, 13.9% in their twenties, 36.4% in their thirties, 30.2% in their forties, 12.9% in their fifties, and 6.0% aged sixty or older.

I’ve recently been eating SOYJOY for lunch in an attempt to lose weight and save money. I succeeded in both, dropping about two and a half kilograms in three weeks, but then last week I went on a business trip to Nice and managed to put it all right back on. SOYJOY is nice on its own regardless of the particular flavour, and at work the also have another one I like, wheat based with a maple flavour, but I can’t for the life of me remember the name, although I do know it’s from Asahi, perhaps from wheat left-over from the beer-making…

I’ve never heard of “Natural Brown” before, but it’s a quite unappetising name and suggests to me the laxative effect it might induce!

Finally, here’s a rather weird (fan-made surely?) CalorieMate advert:

This Sunday’s silly survey is as usual a ranking survey from goo Ranking, looking at where or when people don’t want to meet people from the office at the weekends, split as usual into male and female responses.

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.

Living in the big city and considerable far away from the office, I don’t think I’ve ever bumped into a cow-orker at the weekends, fortunately!

One presumes that as usual more dodgy activities, such as when exiting a love hotel are excluded…
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This survey from Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com into the matter of the iPhone also finds that a surprising to me percentage of people are aware of the details of the launch of the device.

Demographics

Between the 20th and 23th of June 2008 300 members of the Marsh online monitor successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sex and age breakdown was not reported, although Marsh usually has a 50:50 sex split, and 20% of people in their teens, twenties, thirties and forties, and the remaining 20% split between those in their fifties and those aged sixty or older.

My price predictions, then my reports of a leaked pricing memo have both turned out to be wrong, as on the 23th of June there was an official annoucement of the iPhone price. I still feel that the price is a bit low and as it undercuts the Series X smartphone prices, so I wonder if there is hidden charges or any extras that will bring the price up a bit. In Japan, as there is little public WiFi, the iPhone will put quite a strain on the mobile network, so does SoftBank have the capacity to handle a successful iPhone?

Oh, and here’s a rather low-quality video of the Japanese 12-key input method running in an emulator, using a mouse rather than a finger. I like the pop-ups when you hold down a button.