世論 What Japan Thinks

We’ve looked before in detail at handsomeness, but here is a slightly different take from goo Ranking; the top twenty ways Japanese fathers can retain that certain air of attractiveness, not only from their wives’ and children’s perspectives, but also from the point of view of female (and male too) colleagues and other associates. The fieldwork for the survey was conducted over the 24th and 25th of October 2007 amongst the members of the goo Research online monitor panel.

The subject for this one was a little difficult to translate; perhaps if there was a female version (and if there is one, I will definitely translate!) I could have used the expression “Yummy Mummy”, but here I was at a bit of a loss to come up with a suitable term. The Japanese expression was 父親でもモテる人, oyaji demo moteru hito.
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Here is another detailed yet interesting poll conducted on behalf of the Cabinet Office Japan on the subject of diplomacy, in particular the points of diplomacy that the Japanese goverment itself finds important, and that they hope the populace do to.

Demographics

Between the 4th and 14th of October 2007 3,000 adults from all over the country were randomly selected from the voter rolls to take part in this survey. 1,757 people, or 58.6%, were available and agreed to take part in face-to-face interviews. 52.4% were female, 9.3% in their twenties, 14.5% in their thirties, 18.3% in their forties, 22.3% in their fifties, 20.7% in their sixties, and 14.9% aged seventy or older. As an additional data point, 40.1% had never been abroad, 56.1% had been abroad for a short trip, and 3.9% had stayed in one country for more than three months.

The second half of this survey is also extremely interesting for me, and it has answers from which both supporters and detractors can extract ammunition. PKO operations see much higher levels of support than I would have suspected, which perhaps suggests why Osawa’s idea for troops on the ground in Afghanistan was not as surprising and contradictory as it first sounded.
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[part 1][part 2]

Here is another detailed yet interesting poll conducted on behalf of the Cabinet Office Japan on the subject of diplomacy, in particular the points of diplomacy that the Japanese goverment itself finds important, and that they hope the populace do to.

Demographics

Between the 4th and 14th of October 2007 3,000 adults from all over the country were randomly selected from the voter rolls to take part in this survey. 1,757 people, or 58.6%, were available and agreed to take part in face-to-face interviews. 52.4% were female, 9.3% in their twenties, 14.5% in their thirties, 18.3% in their forties, 22.3% in their fifties, 20.7% in their sixties, and 14.9% aged seventy or older. As an additional data point, 40.1% had never been abroad, 56.1% had been abroad for a short trip, and 3.9% had stayed in one country for more than three months.

This is a great survey, one of the most detailed I’ve seen for a while. It also features the first bit of blatent propaganda that I’ve seen in a Cabinet Office survey. Note in Q3 where I have mention ‘the so-called “Reparations”‘. This is actually a literal translation of the Japanese, いわゆる「過去の清算」, iwayuru “kako no seizan”, complete with quotation marks.

Q3 also shows nearly nine in ten interested in the North Korean kidnap victims, very different from my foreign friends, who are almost to a man (or a woman) sick fed up with the coverage of the issue and how Japanese petulance on this matter threatens to wreck much of the progress being made. I’d put a loony on the other side of the water armed to the back teeth with conventional and nuclear missiles much higher on my list of priorities. I also notice the lack of a question on how profits from pachinko are sometimes funnelled to the North Korean regime.
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With the 忘年会, bounenkai, end-of-year party season upon us and many of us perhaps having headed to our first one tonight flush with our winter bonuses, let’s take a quick look with goo Ranking at what male actions make women run a mile at drinking parties. The fieldwork for the survey was conducted over the 24th and 25th of October 2007 amongst female members of the goo Research monitor group. Note that the vast majority of activities here would result in the guy being slapped with a sexual harrassment suit in the West, and probably also in Japan, although the law is not as frequently invoked here.

Number 8 is perhaps a bit strange and culturally specific, and although thankfully I’ve not witnessed it myself, apparently after a quantity of alcohol Japanese men sometimes do remove their shirts or more. May these be the only undies you whip off for a young lady in the pub!

Anyway, I hope none of my readers got up to or suffered from the activities described within! You may want to cross-reference with previous survey on drunken old git behaviour.
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With the Winter bonus season upon us (I get mine tomorrow!) here is a timely survey from MacroMill Inc on this very subject, the Winter 2007 bonus.

Demographics

Over the 14th and 15th of November 2007 1,032 members of the MacroMill internet monitor group employed in either the public or private sector successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 20.0% of the sample were in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, and 20.0% in their fifties. The sex ratio was not reported, however, although when JR Tokai Express Research use a similar sample base, over 80% are male. However, MacroMill tends to use a 50:50 split for their surveys, but this cannot be the case here as in Q4B, for instance, 534 men report getting a bonus, over half the sample size.

Half of my winter bonus has to go to paying my home loan, and the majority of the remained will end up replenishing funds in the bank to be spent on just normal living expenses, sadly. If I manage to get any discretionary spending, I think a DS and a Wii plus Wii Fit (saw it on the telly this morning – it looks great!) will be in order.
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The world is going digital, from digital television to digital audio, but what about one of the last hangovers from the analogue world, the humble calendar? With the end of the year approaching, will the desktop calendar move from on top of the PC to into the PC? To find out what’s happening in Japan, japan.internet.com reported on a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research Inc into this very topic of calendars.

Demographics

On the 30th of November 2007 334 members of JR Tokai Express Research’s online monitor group employed in either the public or private sector successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 81.3% of the sample was male, 10.0% in their twenties, 39.0% in their thirties, 35.3% in their forties, 12.4% in their fifties, and 3.3% in their sixties.

In my previous team we used to get a handful of free desktop calendars from a translator dispatch company, but now I suspect that with my employer’s heavy emphasis on compliance issues, these are treated as potential bribes or another method of receiving favourable treatment thus we are forbidden from accepting them.

On my home PC I occasionally download (and wifey does so often) wallpaper with a one- or two-month calendar featuring either Pinky or cute Neko no Kimochi cover models, although if you’re not a member you need to do a short survey before you get to the download page, I’m afraid, and the free samples for non-subscribers don’t have dates on them.

In January I translated an identical set of questions.
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Following on, I suppose, from the recent survey on bowel movements, MyVoice performed another survey, this time on perhaps one of the aftermaths of bowel movements, smells.

Demographics

Over the first five days of November 2007 19,910 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private online survey. 54% of the sample was female, 1% in their teens, 16% in their twenties, 38% in their thirties, 28% in their forties, and 17% in their fifties.

In Q4 surely there must be a degree of respect for elders going on! Three or four of my bosses at work have spent many years perfecting that exquisite combination of stale beer, ciggies, coffee, natto, and general mouth rancidness that make my eyes water at twenty paces!

It might be interesting to cross-reference this against another MyVoice survey from a year and a half ago on deodorants.

Oh, and I haven’t a clue in Q5 and Q6 what a table is supposed to smell of!
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With many Japanese companies paying winter bonuses at the end of week, this might be a good time to look at a recent survey reported on japan.internet.com and conducted by Cross Marketing Inc into portable games machines.

Demographics

Over the 21st and 22nd of November 2007 300 members of the Cross Marketing online monitor group successfully competed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was split exactly 50:50 male and female in each age group. These age groups were 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 I’ve probably mentioned too many times already (perhaps I should make an Amazon wish list so you can all buy me a present?) I really want to get the new red and black DS Lite. I have two Japanese learning titles waiting for me at home! Perhaps this weekend…?

One of the reasons, perhaps, for the good PSP figures in Q3 is that, as one can see from Q1, a lot of people already have a DS or DS Lite, therefore wanting a PSP makes sense. However, how many of them will actually go out and spend the money is open to debate.

Finally, in Q2, I get the impression that DS Lites are now in sufficient stock almost everywhere, but perhaps with the end of year spending spree coming up, it will get difficult to get your hands on again? You may want to cross-reference these figures with a similar question asked in March this year.
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If you wish to risk getting fingerprinted and come to Japan, what things might you want to do? To find out what festivals or events Japanese would recommend to overseas visitors, a leading on-line consumer research company goo Research asked its monitor panel this very question.

Personally, I have only been to number 5, Daimonji (far too many people!) and number 27, the Japan Formula 1 Grand Prix. Which Japanese festivals would you recommend to tourists?

All photos below are courtesy of flickr.

Ranking results

Q: What Japanese festivals or events would you want to recommend to overseas visitors?

Rank	Festival		Photographer	Score
1	Aomori Nebuta Festival		autan	100
2	Sapporo Snow Festival		glazaro	83.8
3	Gion Matsuri		tkosaka	81.1
4	Awa Odori		T. J. M	65.1
5	Daimonji Gozan no Okuribi		masatsu	53.4

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I’m having trouble interpreting the results of this rather interesting survey from goo Ranking on to people in which occupation would you most like to say thanks to and hand them an energy drink. The survey was conducted over the 24th and 25th of October 2007, so it was well after Shinzo Abe disappeared from his job of running the country, so it cannot be a sympathy vote for him. However, is it thanks for the present incumbent, Yasuo Fukuda, who at age 71 should be tending his garden rather than trying to run the country, or is it just a general feeling that the top politicians need all the support they can get?
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