世論 What Japan Thinks

I feel RFID is greatly misunderstood, and deliberately misrepresented, by those with axes to grind regarding surveillance, as although the more usual passive type of RFID can technically be read from a few metres distance in ideal condition, it is very sensitive to interference from other metal items making random distance attacks infeasible. Just in case you are really paranoid, as pictured above, Kitty chan can protect you! To find out what the average Japanese does with their IC Chipped cards, JR Tokai Express Research Inc performed a survey on this very subject of IC Cards.

Demographics

Over the 30th and 31st of January 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research monitor group employed in either the private or public sector completed an online survey. 78.8% were male, 9.1% in their twenties, 38.5% in their thirties, 36.1% in their forties, 11.8% in their fifties, and 4.2% in their sixties.

I have three chipped credit cards, with one of them doubling as an employee ID card, and an ICOCA train pass so I’m actually slightly below the average.
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Admittedly the headline sounds awfully like a one-sided contest, especially considering that the MacBook Air is being heavily advertised on Japanese television, as this recent survey reported by japan.internet.com and conducted by Cross Marketing Inc on mobile devices demonstrates.

Demographics

Over the 30th and 31st of January 2008 300 members of the Cross Marketing online monitor group successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was 50:50 male and female, and 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,

As a cross-reference, just after the launch of Apple’s iPod touch over 70% were aware of it, and just after the USA launch of Apple’s iPhone nearly 85% were aware of it.

The MacBook Air is eye-catchingly slim, of course, but some of the reviews I have seen suggest there has had to be some comprimises made to the performance to get everything into the case. On the other hand, the Eee PC just does what it says on the tin without too much drama, and it might even be the sort of device I would buy myself.
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I haven’t been to karaoke for years, mainly due to being tone deaf and preferring to go home rather than staying up boozing until all hours! A Swiss friend of mine used to go to sing enka on the whole, and take full advantage of the all-you-can-drink offer they ran at Jumbo Karaoke by knocking back at least five pints of Asahi in two hours! To find out how the average Japanese views karaoke, DIMSDRIVE Research conducted a survey on this very topic.

Demographics

Between the 12th and 20th of December 2007 9,271 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 54.9% were female, 1.5% in their teens, 15.5% in their twenties, 36.1% in their thirties, 28.6% in their forties, 12.7% in their fifties, and 5.6% aged sixty or older.

There’s no good data to graph here, so instead let’s have a Hello Kitty Karaoke Party!

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I haven’t been to karaoke for years, mainly due to being tone deaf and preferring to go home rather than staying up boozing until all hours! A Swiss friend of mine used to go to sing enka on the whole, and take full advantage of the all-you-can-drink offer they ran at Jumbo Karaoke by knocking back at least five pints of Asahi in two hours! To find out how the average Japanese views karaoke, DIMSDRIVE Research conducted a survey on this very topic.

Demographics

Between the 12th and 20th of December 2007 9,271 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 54.9% were female, 1.5% in their teens, 15.5% in their twenties, 36.1% in their thirties, 28.6% in their forties, 12.7% in their fifties, and 5.6% aged sixty or older.

When I once went to karaoke there was a great Japanese punk song that had nonsense English lyrics that when sung sort-of sounded like Japanese, but I never found out the name of the song. That was a pretty dull anecode, I must admit, but it’s the best I’ve got… I got rather disenchanted with the whole affair after going there with Japanese colleagues who spent their time singing 1970s ballads and anime theme songs.
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As the second part of the survey published on Saturday into English study, this is a recent poll conducted by goo Research in conjuction with the Yomiuri Shimbun as part of their 13th Topi-Q Net survey into the matter of objectives for 2008.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 25th of December 2007 549 young members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sex ratio was reported as 1:1 male to female, but there obviously was one odd person left over. The ages of the respondents ranged between teens to thirties, although the exact split is not reported. 40% of the sample were students in either secondary or tertiary education, 28% were full-time employees, and 12% homemakers, with the other 20% presumably made up of part-timers, NEETs, etc.

It’s a bit depressing, I suppose, than in Q1SQ1 only one in ten is going to make 2008 the year of love, with far more people likely to have their nose stuck in a book rather than anywhere else. At least, however, there was a decent degree of positive reflection on the year past, with almost half rating the past year at 70 out of 100 or more.
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Unfortunately I couldn’t find any suitably silly survey for Sunday, so you’ll have to make do with this one, where japan.internet.com recently published the results of a survey conducted by goo Research into the topic of broken digital cameras.

Demographics

Between the 17th and 21st of January 2008 1,092 members of the goo Research monitor panel completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.2% of the sample was male, 16.2% in their teens, 18.0% in their twenties, 21.7% in their thirties, 16.1% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 12.2% aged sixty or older.

Picture of a broken Panasonic DMC-FX30 by Jeff Youngstrom

I am always amazed at quite how high the desire to learn English is in Japan, as despite at least 5 years in school ability levels are pretty atrocious on the whole, and even given Nova’s demise there seems to be no fall-off in the popularity of study. This recent poll conducted by goo Research in conjuction with the Yomiuri Shimbun as part of their 13th Topi-Q Net survey into the matter of English showed youth keen to learn more.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 25th of December 2007 549 young members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sex ratio was reported as 1:1 male to female, but there obviously was one odd person left over. The ages of the respondents ranged between teens to thirties, although the exact split is not reported. 40% of the sample were students in either secondary or tertiary education, 28% were full-time employees, and 12% homemakers, with the other 20% presumably made up of part-timers, NEETs, etc.

In Q1SQ, I thought it interesting that it was chance encounters with foreigners in the street or on holiday that was more of a reason to learn English when compared to other situations such as communicating better with foreign friends or dare I suggest looking for an exotic partner. I’ll also throw Q2 back at my readers.

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It may seem strange to an outsider that the buzzword “Work-life balance” has become popular in Japanese industry, but with many Japanese seemingly holding colleagues more dear than their family, industry has realised that for the benefit of their employees’ mental health and well-being, promoting spending less time at work is important. With this in mind, japan.internet.com reported on a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research Inc looking at this very topic of work-life balance. Apparently the term was coined in the 1990s in Europe or the USA.

Demographics

Between the 17th and 19th of January 2007 330 people employed in either the public or private sector completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 80.3% of the sample was male, 10.9% in their twenties, 38.2% in their thirties, 34.8% in their forties, 13.9% in their firties, and 2.1% in their sixties.

I personally hold unions mainly responsible for issues regarding work-life balance. A recent survey from the union I have to join (well, technically I need not, but I think I’m not eligible for any overtime or flexible working hours if I did opt out) and pay 6,000 yen a month dues for (and don’t start me on how the union shop prominently sells cancer-in-a-pack to employees, not even stopping sales or turning off the fag machines for No Smoking Day) showed that overall job satisfaction was directly related to overtime hours worked, with the break-even point being 30 to 40 hours per month, if one can really describe having only half the staff dissatisfied as “break-even”. All we get from the union are messages about let’s not overwork, and pie-in-the-sky for Japan ideas like suggestions to plan all your goals at the start of the day and go home once you achieve them, and no later. If they really wanted to fix anything, they’d instruct members to work-to-rule, 40 hours overtime max per month. Oh, and the overtime figures at our office are fake anyway – there’s an extra 15 hours hidden in the counting, and they are calculated on self-reporting, not on ID card check-in and check-out at the main gate. Business trips are also recorded as 8:30 to 17:00 regardless of whether you end up getting the last shinkansen home or not.

Ah yes, we have a survey to do.
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With the biggest stories in Japan this week being pesticide poisoning from Chinese gyoza, which is looking like a deliberate case of tampering with the packaging line, according to an expert on NHK news tonight, this recent survey from MyVoice on the image of Chinese products is most timely, although given the figures here China’s image can hardly sink any lower.

Demographics

Over the first five days of January 2008 12,669 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample was female, 2% in their teens, 15% in their twenties, 38% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 16% in their fifties.

I personally try to avoid as much Chinese foodstuffs as possible. One problem, though, especially for prepared foods, is that although the preparation might happen in Japan thus meriting a Made in Japan label, the ingredients may be imported. For instance, I have heard that some brands of instant noodles use cabbages from China. I saw a program on food safety in the Chinese domestic market, and if that is anything to base tourism decisions on, if you are going to the Beijing Olympics, you would be best advised to bring your own food and make sure your travel insurance is up to date!

On the other hand, I do a lot of shopping at the 100 yen shop, and the vast majority of their brands are made in China, but a laundry net or a calendar is hardly going to kill you! It is also pretty difficult to avoid Made in China clothes, as retailers from UniQlo to Aeon use the country as their primary source.
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This is a story I saw reported in the English press as merely a snippet of the results of Q6, that 79% of Japanese want internet filtering for children, but that one figure is perhaps one of the more dull numbers to come from this survey from the Cabinet Office Japan on ensuring internet safety.

Demographics

Between the 8th and 25th of November 2007 5,000 people were randomly selected from presumably the voter rolls to take part in the survey. Of the 5,000, 3,006 agreed to complete the survey, conducted by means of face-to-face interviews. The sample was 52.7% female, 8.8% in their twenties, 16.0% in their thirties, 16.1% in their forties, 20.2% in their fifties, 21.2% in their sixties, and 17.7% seventy or older. 26.3% of the sample had children under the age of 18. Of these 790 people, 35.3% were under school age, 45.6% of elementary school age, 28.6% of middle school age, 26.7% of high school age, and 6.5% had already graduated, quit school, or other. Of the parents with school age children, 23.9% gave mobile phones to all their children, 17.0% gave them to some, 58.6% to none, and 0.5% didn’t know.

Note that human rights abuse, slander, shopping fraud and copyright infringement are out of scope for the Internet Hotline Centre. In addition, for all you music and video thieves out there, only 20.0% of the survey think the police should be targeting them.
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