世論 What Japan Thinks

Not too surprisingly, Yahoo! comes out on top as the most frequently used news site in Japan, but there are still many interesting results in this survey from MyVoice into news sites.

Demographics

Over the first four days of April 2008 14,913 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample was female, 1% in their teens, 15% in their twenties, 37% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 17% in their fifties.

I am glad to see that the top complaint is the lack of information in articles; most Japanese articles are just two or three paragraphs long and as a user of Google News one finds very similar reports in different papers. Google News also reveals another problem, namely that articles often expire really quickly; even after only a few hours a lot of the links on Google News lead to error pages.

For English news on Japan, I recommend the appropriately-named News on Japan as a useful aggregator of news, although in a few months there may very well be a new challenger in this market…
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With the Golden Week holidays over today, this will be the final filler ranking survey (they’re always quick and easy to translate!) this time on the holiday theme of what typical Japanese tourist behaviour people end up doing on overseas holidays.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of March 2008 1,036 people from the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.7% were male, 7.0% in their teens, 14.7% in their twenties, 30.1% in their thirties, 27.0% in their forties, 10.9% in their fifties, and 10.2% aged sixty or over. 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 I’ve only done one Japanese group tour to Europe (you have to do it once yourself, just so you know how bad it is!) I think the taking of optional tours was the most common I saw from others. When the tour stopped at Vienna, we’d already ordered tickets for the musical Elizabeth so we went there whilst everyone else headed off on the optional tour.

Even on personal tours, my wife photographs and videos just about everything, which I find immensely dull as we’ll probably never watch the videos again, and seeing the sights through the viewfinder cannot be much fun at all.

The final choice, which I thought might be higher, ordering souvenirs before departure, perhaps needs a little explanation for people who are not so familiar with Japan. Souvenir giving is a highly ritualised event, such that one needs (yes, needs) to buy a small present for just about every friend and acquaintance, often macadamia chocolates, but close friends sometimes actually name what they want. So, rather than fill up one’s suitcase with 20 boxes of nuts or whatever, there are many mail-order catalogues to be had from the travel agent that will deliver the day you return from holiday. I find the whole business extremely impersonal, and would much rather a hand-written postcard that showed me someone took some effort to think of me while they were away, and it’s much more fun for me to write these cards compared to traipsing round airport shops.

Photo from nubui on flickr.
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Today and every 5th of May is Children’s Day in Japan, and to celebrate, goo Ranking published a list of what adventure novels from one’s childhood made one’s heart beat faster.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of March 2008 1,036 people from the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.7% were male, 7.0% in their teens, 14.7% in their twenties, 30.1% in their thirties, 27.0% in their forties, 10.9% in their fifties, and 10.2% aged sixty or over. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample. Only the single people were asked today’s questions.

This is a fascinating list. First, there is but one Japanese author, then there are a good number of countries represented, although of course it will be the Japanese translation that people read as a child. Next, I must admit to never having heard of books 2, 8, 18 and 19.

For me, the book that defined my childhood would have to be The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, both of them read to me by my mother. I could only manage to read by myself the Tales of Narnia, which would probably be third on my list of memorable adventures.
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Here’s another quick but fun survey from goo Ranking for your Sunday enjoyment; what did you find surprising when you entered further education.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of February 2008 1,052 people from the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.7% were female, 6.4% in their teens, 15.7% in their twenties, 31.0% in their thirties, 26.6% in their forties, 11.2% in their fifties, and 9.1% aged sixty or over. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

When I started uni in Scotland, I think the most surprising thing I realised was that women… I’d better not finish that one as my wife and mother read my blog!
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Here’s a quick but fun survey from goo Ranking for your Sunday enjoyment; what did you feel uncomfortable about after starting your very first job after graduation.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of March 2008 1,036 people from the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.7% were male, 7.0% in their teens, 14.7% in their twenties, 30.1% in their thirties, 27.0% in their forties, 10.9% in their fifties, and 10.2% aged sixty or over. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample. Only the single people were asked today’s questions.

When I started in a Japanese company because I knew so little of the language and the customs everything felt strange! Perhaps oddest was getting a uniform; not just a jacket, but also official trousers made out of extremely itchy nylon and cut to Japanese shapes. I lasted 5 minutes in them before I consigned them to the back of the wardrobe.
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Softbank has just recently reported that for each of the last twelve months they have reported the highest growth in new contracts of all the mobile companies, and if the results from this recent survey, the 37th regular modile phone upgrade needs survey, by goo Research and published on japan.internet.com is anything to go on, Softbank’s growth looks set to continue.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 23rd of April 2008 1,000 members of the goo Research monitor group, and although it is not explicitly stated the figures imply that they all have mobile phones. 52.0% were female, 1.2% in their teens, 15.3% in their twenties, 39.7% in their thirties, 27.1% in their forties, and 16.7% aged fifty or older.

Softbank has been heavily pushing their voice discount services, with intra-family calls being free all the time as one of the biggest selling points. DoCoMo’s response has been to offer the same deal, but only to those who have been with the company ten years or more! I am just now eligible for that, but I’ve got so used to using email that I cannot be bothered with it, myself!

I don’t know if there is a connection, but recently there’s been more people speaking on mobiles in trains – now that would be another interesting topic to investigate!
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This is another fascinating survey with quite surprising results. The survey is from MyVoice, where they looked into the issue of email.

Demographics

Over the first five days of April 2008 14,815 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample was female, 2% in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 37% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 17% in their fifties.

This is interesting to see how people use their computer and mobile phone email addresses. Mobile phones are restricted to mostly communication with friends and family, whereas computer-based email does many things.

Most of the new models of mobile phones support not just display but also the creation of HTML email; that is email with inline photos and emoji, but they do tend to chew up memory space on the mobile phones. I can’t really say there are many benefits from HTML email; having said that, DecoMail is HTML email and I couldn’t live without that feature now when communicating with the wife!
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Japan industry has the reputation amongst many foreigners for not using IT to the fullest in the office environment, so this survey from JR Tokai Express Research Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com may dispel or reinforce (is 50% comparatively high or low?) these stereotypes regarding groupware.

Demographics

On the 28th of April 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research monitor panel employed in the private sector completed an internet-based questionnaire. 67.3% of the sample were male, 15.5% in their twenties, 46.7% in their thirties, 31.5% in their forties, 5.8% in their fifties, and 0.6% in their sixties.

I used to use Cybozu in the office, which was a nice product even though it was mostly just schedule management I did. Last year I had to migrate to the new corporate home-brew effort that is… Ahh, I wrote two paragraphs about what it is, but then I remembered that my boss sometimes reads the blog.
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goo Research, in conjunction with All About Japan recently conducted a survey into the matter of young women and studying.

Demographics

Between the 26th and 31st of March 2008 1,052 female members of the goo Research monitor panel aged between 25 and 44 and who lived in Tokyo or the three surrounding prefectures completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 25.3% were between 25 and 29 years, old, 24.8% between 30 and 34, 24.4% between 35 and 39, and 25.5% between 40 and 44. 66.6% were married.

Note that studying is a rather broad heading here, covering anything with an instructor involved. Also, only training started from age 20 or older is considered; doing ballet as a kid doesn’t count.

The one thing I’m studying, or at least should be studying, is kanji; I hope to sit the test for the next level in October. The one thing I want to learn is the game of go. When I was a kid I played it, but it would be nice to get formal lessons from somewhere.

I am also learning how to write headlines for blog posts that attract clicks…
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Back in Scotland I had a bike which I rode rain or shine to work and generally thrashed about on at weekends. In Japan, though, I fancied buying a bike, but parking seemed a pain, and the nearest open road seemed far, far away. To see what the average Japanese thinks, MyVoice performed a survey into this subject of motorcycles.

Demographics

Over the first five days of April 2008 14,860 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online survey. 54% of the sample was female, 1% in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 38% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 17% in their fifties.

Ahh, I could talk for hours about the motorcycles I have owned and ridden! My last bike was a BMW, always a nice thing to mention in Japan as the brand cachet is strong, despite the rather more staid UK image, perhaps related to the relative rarity of the bike in Japan. My Beemer was actually a made under licence single-cylinder off-road styled F650 with the rather un-macho name of Funduro painted in an even more un-macho shade of peachy-orange. I’m sure there was a good reason why I chose that colour, but it escapes me.
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