世論 What Japan Thinks

japan.internet.com recently reported on the seventh regular survey by goo Research into mobile devices, with the focus this time on tablets.

Demographics

Between the 4th and 9th of March 2013 1,085 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.6% of the sample were male, 13.5% in their teens, 15.8% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 17.4% in their forties, and 32.0% aged fifty or older.

I really do feel that tablet use is increasing; on my commute there is invariably at least one person using a tablet, and the most common uses appear to be general surfing or reading. Today I say my first person running LINE chatRead the rest of this entry »

japan.internet.com recently reported on a survey by Video Research Ltd. into characters and the child market. More detailed information was also obtained from Video Research’s own press release.

Demographics

Between the 3rd and 9th of December 2012 617 female members of the Video Research monitor group who lived with a child aged between 3 and 12 years old, and who lived within a 30 km radius of Tokyo station.

It’s an interesting set of results, and I wonder how the one in three or so children (in this sample of internet-using parents) who view or download music and video will approach copyright when they grow up? Will media be something to be valued or just another basic human need that they expect to have on tap all the time? How will they consume television? Will they even consume television?
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goo Ranking often looks at what behaviours people hate, but this time for a change they look at what behaviour when going out drinking in mixed company (particularly office parties) by members of the opposite sex would they find unavoidably attractive, for both men looking at women and women looking at men.

Demographics

Over the 6th and 7th of February 2013 1,122 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 60.1% of the sample were female, 10.2% in their teens, 16.6% in their twenties, 26.5% in their thirties, 25.0% in their forties, 11.1% in their fifties, and 10.6% 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.
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Today is White Day, the day when women expect to get a return gift for their Valentine Day present, so goo Ranking took a look at what White Day presents women would be shocked to get in return from their boyfriend.

Demographics

Over the 6th and 7th of February 2013 1,122 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 60.1% of the sample were female, 10.2% in their teens, 16.6% in their twenties, 26.5% in their thirties, 25.0% in their forties, 11.1% in their fifties, and 10.6% 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. This question was for the females only.

Number 8, comedy chocolates, is my succinct translation of the original Japanese, sweets with a gag element to them, which might include amusingly-shaped chocolates. (Mildly NSFW link!)

One of the women in our office got number 14, alcohol; two bottles from all the guys in the office, one from a friend, some takuan (pickled daikon radish), and a case of Ukon no Chikara hangover remedy…
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This is a curious topic for a survey, conducted by goo Research and reported on japan.internet.com, namely home appliance electronic sounds, the beeps and blips that many (most?) white goods make.

Demographics

Between the 25th and 27th of February 2013 1,094 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.6% of the sample were male, 13.7% in their teens, 15.7% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 17.0% in their forties, 14.6% in their fifties, and 17.4% aged sixty or older.

It’s been so long since I’ve been in the UK, but do western kitchen goods beep much? My microwave has a tone when it finishes, then three quick beeps every two minutes afterwards until you open the door. The rice cooker has an ugly beep when it cooks, the washing machine plays a few bars of Mozart on completion, and the bath plays a tune then announces “The bath has been drawn!” once it fills itself.
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The headline reveals a rather obvious conclusion from a survey by Ceres Inc into LINE (an extremely popular chat app) usage, which was reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Over the 6th and 7th of February 2013 806 LINE users aged 16 or older competed a smartphone-based survey. More detailed demographics are not given, but the sample most likely came from users of the moppy web site.

I’ve never downloaded LINE myself, and in fact had never even used chat even casually until last week, when I got invited into a group chat on Google+ for smartphones. It’s been an ongoing discussion which I’ve been finding rather fun to participate in, and I can now understand the attraction of text chat services! However, due to me being a stingy git, I only take part when my train journey to and from work takes me past a public wi-fi point.

Note that stickers are basically clipart emoticons that you can paste into your chat; the Japanese term is “stamp”.
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With the university enrollment season upon us (Japan starts in April rather than September or October), goo Ranking had a short survey looking at how university freshers from the regions tend to be when they come to Tokyo.

Demographics

Over the 9th and 10th of January 2013 1,072 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 59.4% of the sample were female, 8.5% in their teens, 14.1% in their twenties, 29.8% in their thirties, 27.1% in their forties, 10.4% in their fifties, and 10.2% 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 left my back-of-beyond home to go to Scotland’s capital to study, but perhaps because in the UK there is less of likelyhood to study in your home town – hmm, is there really? Many of my Japanese colleagues did so, but in my class of about 30 in university, there was maybe just one (none at all?) from Edinburgh itself – such a distinction is less likely to be made?
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Just a quick pair of statistics for today, taken from the article by japan.internet.com on the SmartPhone Contents Report Vol.04 by Video Research Interactive.

Demographics

Between the 8th and 12th of February 2013 21,789 internet users completed an internet-based questionnaire. For the final report, the data obtained from the survey was weighted according to Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications statistics on internet users in 2011.

Sadly, my employer does not make it into either of the lists…
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japan.internet.com reported on the seventh regular survey by goo Research into internet advertising.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 23rd of February 2013 1,091 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.1% of the sample were male, 16.2% in their teens, 18.3% in their twenties, 21.2% in their thirties, 16.4% in their forties, and 27.9% aged fifty or older.

If my experience is anything to go by, more people seeing contextual advertisements perhaps seems to mean more people avoiding them…

I don’t really appreciate the subtle difference between the “don’t know” and “didn’t know they appeared” answers in the questions below!
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Macromill research recently published a fascinating survey on one of the many phenomena in Japan I don’t quite understand university students and their recruitment activities.

Demographics

Between the 9th and 11th of Februrary 2013 300 members of the Macromill monitor group who lived in the Kanto area (Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa prefectures and Tokyo) and were in their third year in university or first year of a masters degree and engaged in job-seeking activites completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female.

If any of my readers have been through the Japanese recruitment cycle, please feel free to post about it, but as far as I know, students start around the middle of their third (of four) year to look for a job, submitting their applications, attending job fairs, getting interviews and all the rest, all at the expense of their studies. The hoped-for outcome is a firm job offer at the start of their fourth year, which could be seen as a plus to allow them to study hard for their last year, but I see it as basically making the last year pretty pointless.
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