世論 What Japan Thinks

Central Research Services, Inc published a report two months ago regarding leisure activities. The format of their report differs from the usual survey results that I translate as first, they scale the figures up to reflect the whole population (the current population of Japan is somewhere around 127 million), and second, they present the data within a coherent narrative rather than just the usual data dump, so the amount of data available is rather limited. It does say, however, that they interviewed 3,000 people aged 15 and over at some point to get their data. The main data worth presenting is the ranking of participation in various activities, based on how many people from the survey group performed each activity at least once in 2004, so although the lottery, for instance, is high on the list, each participant only spends a couple of minutes per week (or even per year, as the end of year big draw is very, very popular), so if the table was sorted by the actual hours spent, it would look very, very different.

Eating out	72,400,000
Travel within Japan	60,800,000
Driving (or being driven)	55,100,000
Karaoke	49,200,000
Watching videos	48,700,000
Doing the lottery	45,900,000
Personal computing (games, etc)	44,300,000
Cinema	43,900,000
Listening to music	42,400,000
Visiting gardens, museums, zoos	40,600,000
Gardening	37,500,000
Bars, pubs, and other drinking establishments	37,300,000
Bowling	32,000,000
Amusement parks	31,900,000
Physical exercise	30,700,000
Picnic, hiking, hill walking	30,600,000
Board or card games	30,300,000
Console games	30,100,000
Jogging, marathon	26,200,000
Concerts, live music	25,600,000

MyVoice recently published this survey regarding home robots. For me personally, all this robot stuff is very gimmicky; static sensor arrays would be much more useful for almost all purposes (except for vaccuuming of course), and the cost of static machinery is far lower that making some virtually useless moving guard robot, given today’s, or even tomorrow’s technology. However, with almost two-thirds of respondents failing to register anxiety at the robotisation of the home, and half keen on welcoming them into their homes, surely this is nothing but another win for the Lizard Alliance and the RoTM™?

MyVoice surveyed 17,958 people registered in the MyVoice community; 42% male and 39% in their thirties. The results are as follows:

Q1: Do you think you’d want to use a robot in your home?

I absolutely want to use	13.9%
I probably want to use	36.0%
I can’t say whether I want to or not	29.6%
I don’t really want to use	12.2%
I absolutely don’t want to use	8.3%

Q2: What sort of robot functions do you want to use? (Multiple answer)

Cleaning the house	58.4%
Crime prevention	55.3%
Home minding	39.2%
Tidying up after meals	34.4%
Clothes washing	26.8%
Ironing	23.1%
Cooking	22.1%
Carrying baggage	21.8%
Healing	19.9%
Play	18.9%
Nursing	17.7%
Driving car	16.9%
Work or study help	15.3%
Communication or chat	15.1%
Health management	12.0%
Child minding or child eduction	10.4%
Others	2.2%
I don’t want to use a robot	11.3%
No answer	0.2%

Note: the difference between “crime prevention” and “home minding” is probably that “crime prevention” implies detection of intruders, whereas “home minding” is more just monitoring the house, answering the phone or the door, watching the cat, etc.

Q3: If you bought a robot, up to about how much would you pay?

Up to 10,000 yen	11.9%
10,000 to 100,000 yen	37.8%
100,000 to 200,000 yen	13.4%
200,000 to 300,000 yen	7.0%
300,000 to 500,000 yen	5.2%
500,000 to 1,000,000 yen	5.0%
1,000,000 to 10,000,000 yen	1.1%
Over 10,000,000 yen	0.2%
I don’t think I want to buy	18.0%
No answer	0.5%

Q4: Are you uneasy about the spread of home robots?

I feel completely uneasy about it	6.7%
I’m a little uneasy about it	27.4%
I can’t say whether I am uneasy or not	34.1%
I don’t really feel uneasy	22.4%
I don’t feel uneasy at all	8.4%
No answer	1.0%

InfoPlant performed a survey of mobile phone users, carried out through the main menus of internet-enabled phones from DoCoMo, au and Vodafone. 16,833 people replied during the survey, lasting one week in the start of September. 67.4% of respondents were female, and iMode users, Ezweb users and Vodafone Live! users were 57.4%, 20.9% and 21.7% respectively. This is another self-selecting survey with a prize draw as a carrot, so the answers should be taken in that light.

Q1: Tell me how often you access sites from your mobile phone

	All	Male	Female
About every day	73.8%	76.7%	72.5%
Four or five days a week	10.4%	9.4%	10.9%
Two or three days a week	10.9%	9.5%	11.6%
About one day a week	3.1%	3.1%	3.2%
Less than that	1.6%	1.3%	1.8%

Not surprisingly, the younger the user, the more frequently they accessed.

Q2: Are you on a flat-rate packet plan? (ie, unlimited internet access)

	All	Male	Female
My phone supports it, and I’m using it	58.0%	59.9%	57.1%
My phone supports it, but I’m not on it, but want to change to it	12.3%	11.5%	12.7%
My phone supports it, but I’m not on it, and won’t change to it	5.9%	6.2%	5.8%
My phone doesn’t support it, but want to change to one that does	20.8%	19.4%	21.6%
My phone doesn’t support it, and won’t change to one that does	2.9%	3.0%	2.9%

Breaking down the table in Q1 by usage of inlimited access plans, we get:

	Unlimited access users	Not unlimited access users
About every day	85.7%	57.5%
Four or five days a week	6.8%	15.5%
Two or three days a week	5.5%	18.4%
About one day a week	1.3%	5.7%
Less than once a week	0.7%	3.0%

Q3: For unlimited access user, compared with before you started the service, what has increased? (Sample size=9,764; Multiple answer)

	All	Male	Female
Site Access Frequency	87.4%	89.7%	86.2%
Time spent at a particular site	60.0%	62.2%	58.9%
Number of games downloaded	29.0%	32.7%	27.1%
Number of non-game applets downloaded	20.1%	25.0%	17.7%
Number of ring tones downloaded	45.6%	46.5%	45.1%
Number of pay sites registered with	12.5%	12.6%	12.4%
Number of mails sent and received	36.9%	37.2%	36.8%
Number of times done shopping from mobile	14.3%	9.8%	16.7%
No change in particular	4.0%	3.3%	4.3%

The age breakdown has a couple of interesting spikes – ring tone download for teenagers is almost 50% more the next age group, and mail usage is about 25% to 30% higher for them too.

Q3A: For not unlimited access user, compared with before you started the service, what do you think might increase? (Sample size=7,069; Multiple answer)

	All	Male	Female
Site Access Frequency	66.9%	63.6%	68.4%
Time spent at a particular site	35.6%	34.8%	36.0%
Number of games downloaded	29.7%	32.9%	28.2%
Number of non-game applets downloaded	17.6%	20.6%	16.3%
Number of ring tones downloaded	41.2%	36.8%	43.2%
Number of pay sites registered with	7.9%	7.5%	8.1%
Number of mails sent and received	26.0%	23.6%	27.1%
Number of times done shopping from mobile	9.8%	6.9%	11.2%
No change in particular	12.1%	15.2%	10.8%

At the end of last month, goo Research performed a survey amongst over 20,000 women to find out their attitudes towards breast cancer. This research was carried out on behalf of three organisations, Japan Society of Breast Care, Japan Cancer Society and J.POSH.

The survey details are: the respondents were selected from goo Reseach Monitor Group’s female members, with 21,106 women successfully completing the web-based questionnaire. 1.0% were 19 years old or under, 8.5% were 20-24, 19.5% were 25-29, 26.3% were 30-34, 19.4% were 35-39, 13.3% were 40-44, 6.4% were 45-49, 3.0% were 50-54, 1.8% were 55-59, and just 0.8% were 60 or over. 66.7% were married, and 52.7% had given birth.

Q1: Are you concerned about breast cancer? (Sample size=21,106)

	Very concerned	Somewhat concerned	Neither concerned nor unconcerned	Not very concerned	Not at all concerned
All	30.0%	54.5%	11.5%	3.6%	0.4%
Up to 19 y.o.	16.5%	46.6%	22.8%	11.7%	2.4%
20-24 y.o.	23.0%	53.5%	15.2%	7.5%	0.8%
25-29 y.o.	28.6%	55.4%	11.7%	3.9%	0.3%
30-34 y.o.	30.6%	55.7%	10.8%	2.6%	0.3%
35-39 y.o.	31.1%	54.9%	10.4%	3.2%	0.4%
40-44 y.o.	32.0%	54.3%	10.5%	3.0%	0.2%
45-49 y.o.	31.6%	53.7%	12.7%	1.8%	0.5%
50-54 y.o.	33.3%	48.4%	12.7%	4.7%	0.8%
55-59 y.o.	37.2%	48.4%	9.4%	4.7%	0.3%
Over 60 y.o.	32.3%	49.4%	14.0%	4.3%	0.0%

Q2: Where do you get your information about breast cancer? (Sample size=21,106, multiple answer)

Mother	12.9%
Other family or relatives	6.1%
Friends and acquaintances	23.4%
Newspapers	29.3%
Books or magazines	41.0%
TV or radio	53.0%
Internet	45.2%
Local government information leaflet	13.0%
Doctor	15.6%
Medical check-up service organisation	23.3%
Workplace or school health service	3.6%
I’ve never had information about breast cancer	9.7%
Other	0.7%

Q3: Do you know the following information about breast cancer? (Sample size=21,106, multiple answer)

It’s rapidly increasing within Japanese women	48.0%
Over one in thirty Japanese women will get it	18.5%
Once past your late thirties, the chance of breast cancer drastically increases	47.4%
It’s the leading cause of death from cancer in women from 30 to 64 years old	15.1%
If discovered early, the chance of recovery is 95%	51.5%
If you have regular imaging checks, there is a good chance of discovering cancer	45.6%
It’s a disease you can detect yourself	60.2%
Mammography will discover abnormalities much earlier than touching examinations	55.3%
Don’t know any of the above	6.8%

Q4: If you found a lump or other abnormality on your breast, what sort of clinic do you think you would go to? (Sample size=21,106)

Gynecology clinic	51.9%
Obstetrics and gynaecology clinic	9.6%
Internal medicine clinic	3.7%
Surgical clinic	8.7%
Breast specialist	25.8%
Others	0.4%

Q5: Do you know about specialised breast clinics? (Sample size=21,106)

I know about them	26.6%
I’ve heard about them, but don’t know the details	25.2%
Not heard of them at all	48.2%

Q6: How frequently do you have general health check-ups? (Sample size=21,106)

Every six months	3.5%
Once a year	48.3%
Once every two years	6.9%
Less than once every three years	10.5%
Not had one for over five years	13.1%
Not had one for over ten years	7.2%
Never had one	9.8%
Don’t want to answer	0.8%

Q7: What sort of breast examinations have you had? (Sample size=19,799, multiple answer)

Self-examination	25.6%
Visual and touch examination	34.5%
Mammography	15.6%
Ultrasound	17.6%
Never had one	55.3%
Don’t want to answer	0.7%

Q8: How frequently have you had a uterine cancer test? (Sample size=21,106)

Every six months	2.3%
Once a year	25.5%
Once every two years	9.1%
Less than once every three years	9.0%
Not had one for over five years	6.0%
Not had one for over ten years	2.2%
Never had one	44.7%
Don’t want to answer	1.2%

Q9: What was your motivation for having a breast cancer examination? (Sample size=8,706, multiple answer)

It was recommended that I should	10.2%
I saw information about it in the media (roadshow, magazine, TV, etc)	8.2%
It was part of a workplace check	25.5%
It was part of a local government check	34.2%
I felt myself it was necessary	35.5%
Because a friend or acquaintance has breast cancer	6.5%
Because a family member or relative has breast cancer	6.5%
I was motivated by a breast disease other than cancer	3.6%
Other	9.1%

Q10: Why did you not take a breast cancer examination? (Sample size=12,264, multiple answer)

I’d not had lumps or other symptoms recently	62.6%
At my age, breast cancer is not an issue	12.3%
No-one around me is taking them	12.8%
Takes too long to do it	20.4%
Scared that cancer might be found	7.8%
Not part of the workplace or local government health checks	12.0%
Not had an opportunity to take it	43.9%
I don’t know where to get an examination	15.1%
Nowhere locally to get an examination	5.2%
It’s a delicate matter	13.6%
I’m not concerned about breast cancer	3.6%
Other	5.0%

Q11: In the area you live in, does the local government carry out breast cancer screening? (Sample size=21,106)

Carries out	53.4%
Doesn’t carry out	2.9%
Don’t know	43.7%

Q12: If answered “Carries out” to Q11, in the area you live in, what sort of breast cancer screening examination does the local government perform? (Sample size=11,274, multiple answer)

Visual and touch examination	75.6%
Mammography	40.0%
Ultrasound	18.8%
Other	14.5%

Q13: Which of the following topics do you want to learn about regarding breast cancer? (Sample size=21,106, multiple answer)

About the disease	50.9%
About hospitals that do screening	59.0%
Infomation about breast specialists	54.4%
About local government measures	40.9%
About disease prevention methods	59.1%
About treatment methods	53.5%
About after-effects	34.9%
About medicines	30.2%
About fees for treatment etc	53.4%
About communities and information exchanges	13.4%
About latest information	31.8%
No information I want	2.4%
Others	0.8%

A bit of a biggie again tonight. I’m surprised that there is no direct question about how often people have had breast cancer checks (is this deliberate as they don’t want to highlight a largish figure?), although I note with a bit of surprise that over a quarter have yearly scanning downstairs, which seems to be higher than I would have expected, especially in light of an article by Rebecca K Green I read on Japan Today reporting that only 3% of women have mammograms, yet here 15.6% say they have had mammograms, and even more have had ultrasound checks, although of course the same people could be getting both examinations.

There’s also the other issues that yearly breast cancer checks are, according to UK calculations, not cost-effective (although it’s a difficult thing to cost), and that testicular and prostate cancer get almost zero coverage, even though they can be just as deadly.

I’ve often heard about how a lot of companies, Toyota in particular, employ a good number of foreign workers – Toyota is heavily into employing South American staff – but I’d never seen any figures to back up these assertions. There are also suggestions that a lot of firms in the Toyota supply chain, for instance, employ illegals, but I suspect this is purely (mainly?) rumour and speculation.

However, today I saw some data on a large American-owned multinational with manufacturing facilities in Japan (printed matter, so no web link to the article, and the company name is omitted just in case…) that said that within Japan 16% of their staff (how many people in total are employed by the company in Japan was not noted, and their web site does not say either, but I suspect it is a good few thousand) are non-Japanese; of the 16%, 20% were from the Philippines, 19% were Korean, 16% Indian, 13% from the USA, 12% Chinese and 20% from 22 other countries including Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia and Venezuela.

These numbers are interesting and surprising as the total foreign population of Japan is barely 2%, so at first glance this might boast of the company’s commitment to diversity, but the data is also worrying as I wonder how many of these workers are doing a 3K job on the rather dodgy trainee visa scheme? How representative is this company of all the firms in Japan, I know not either.

This is a slightly old survey carried out in March 2001 by the government regarding foreigners learning Japanese. Japanese language classrooms from around the country were sampled, with 581 foreigners aged 16 and above living in Japan responding to the questions. The questioning was, presumably, carried out in the native language of the respondents, but it does say that the question and answer sheet was read and completed by the respondent. Note that especially if local government classes were selected, the level of the classes would be rather low. Due to the lack of Japanese language teachers and the cost of one-to-one lessons, I think that lower-level students would be over-represented in this survey. Amongst my foreign friends and acquaintences, once we pass JLPT 3 level we tend to stop formal study.

First, Japanese language ability in various formal situations was investigated, broken down by length of study of Japanese. It doesn’t say if this means fulltime or nightschool classes, which would make a huge difference to ability, of course.

Q: In which of the following situations can you communicate in Japanese?

	All	Less than one year	One to two years	More than two years
Talking to doctor about illness	63.7%	56.2%	78.1%	88.8%
Discussions/questions with council officials, etc	50.6%	43.2%	63.5%	76.3%
Reading notices from schools or council, etc	48.9%	43.2%	56.3%	71.3%
Writing a CV	37.5%	33.5%	45.8%	47.5%
Reading work documents	28.7%	25.4%	36.5%	40.0%

Reading and writing ability seems rather too high!

Next, five situations where Japanese may be needed were rated in degrees from “absolutely essential”, “needed”, and so on down to presumably “not needed at all”. Note, this is a summary of a full survey, so a lot of detail is omitted.

Q: Do you think Japanese ability is absolutely essential in the following situations?

Exchanging greetings	60.4%
Telephoning a Japanese person	50.3%
Asking for directions	48.4%
Talking to doctor about illness	47.3%
Writing addressing in kanji	44.2%

Q: Can you do the following reading tasks?

	All	Read hiragana	Read katakana	Read romaji	Can’t read kanji but understand the meaning	Can read some kanji	Can read kanji	Can read and understand kanji	Can’t read anything	No answer
All	581	84.3%	75.2%	51.5%	15.0%	48.5%	12.9%	19.6%	1.9%	1.4%
<1 year study	370	85.4%	74.9%	54.9%	17.6%	47.0%	11.1%	16.5%	1.9%	0.5%
1-2 years study	96	88.5%	79.2%	50.0%	11.5%	47.9%	19.8%	22.9%	2.1%
>2 years study	80	86.3%	85.0%	43.8%	7.5%	66.3%	15.0%	32.5%	1.3%

I hope that table makes sense! I think if there had been some more distiction made between understanding kanji and reading (ie, knowing the Japanese pronounciation) kanji it would have been better, as Chinese (and Koreans to some extent) have a distinct advantage over other foreigners in that respect.

Q: Can you do the following writing tasks?

	All	Write hiragana	Write katakana	Write romaji	Write a few kanji	Can’t write enough kanji by hand but can when using word processor	Write sufficient kanji	Can’t write at all	No answer
All	581	84.0%	73.7%	49.1%	49.4%	9.3%	17.6%	2.9%	1.4%
<1 year study	370	84.6%	74.1%	51.9%	45.9%	7.8%	17.8%	2.4%	0.5%
1-2 years study	96	89.6%	78.1%	50.0%	57.3%	11.5%	17.7%	3.1%	1.0%
>2 years study	80	86.3%	78.8%	43.8%	68.8%	11.3%	16.3%	1.3%	1.3%

Q: What do you hope will be the outcome of your studies? (Multiple answers, top five answers only presented)

Become able to speak Japanese	59.0%
Can increase number of friends	55.9%
Be able to get to know neighbours	36.8%
Can understand TV programs better than before	32.2%
Be able to write my name	31.5%

Q: How will you use the results of your studies? (Multiple answers, top five answers only presented) Not sure on the exact difference between this and the last question!

Speak Japanese	71.1%
Study lifestyle and culture	54.2%
Increase number of friends	47.7%
Talk with everyone	43.7%
Deepen understanding of the differences in culture and viewpoint	30.8%

Uggh, that was impossible to translate! I had to skip the last couple of tables as they made very little sense to me. There looks as if there ought to have been another document describing the survey questions in more details, but I can’t see it at all.

iShare performed this survey at the start of October where 1,525 users (52.9% female, ages from teenagers to those in their forties) of the CLUB BBQ mail service responded about their use of Social Network Services (SNS) and other web-based introduction services. In Japan, the term deai-kei, 出会い系 site, dating-related site, has a slightly dodgy meaning, I think, so perhaps that caused some of the respondents to be more reserved about their answers to the questions. There is also the suggestion of enjo-kousai associated with deai-kei, a Japanese euphemism for child prosititution, basically. SNS is not quite so well-known a term, so there is maybe not yet any particular stigma attached to it. However, I don’t know how much, or even whether or not, of a dating scene there might be at these SNS sites.

Also note that percentages listed to one decimal place are accurate figures, but those without decimal places are read directly off the graphs so are a bit inaccurate. Money also features in many of the surveys, as there are various rumours about gold-diggers and others out to scam people on dating sites.

Q1: Have you used a dating web site service?

Yes	18.7%
No	81.3%

Q2: For those of you that answered Yes in Q1, what was the outcome? (Choose one only)

Met in real-life and became friends	31.4%
Didn’t meet anyone	26.0%
Didn’t meet, but became e-mail friends	19.5%
Met in real-life and became lovers	10%
Met in real-life but was disappointed	5%
It got messy…	2%
Got money	0%

The various Social Network Services like mixi and GREE can be considered as “dating sites” in a rather broad sense. However, without an invitation from an existing member, these SNSes cannot be used.

Those in their twenties are the biggest user groups of SNSes, and of those who have heard about them but not got invitations, 31.4% of men and 38.5% of women have instead used dating sites. It looks as if there are lonely friendless people who are using dating sites for blind dates.

Q3: Which of the following applies to you regarding SNS like Mixi, GREE, etc?

	Currently using SNS	Used to use SNS	Know what they are, but never got an invite	Know what they are, but don’t think I want to use them	Don’t know the term SNS
10-19 year olds	15%	1%	3%	20%	59.7%
20-29 year olds	32.0%	2%	5%	22%	37.1%
30-39 year olds	21%	2%	4%	20%	50.5%
40-49 year olds	12%	2%	6%	20%	60.3%

It seems men more than women want to check out dating sites advertised in the spam they may receive, especially if the risk of fraud and the like from unsolicited mail is mitigated. Also, as men get older, the more likely they are to click on the dodgy links in spam mail; the older you get, the lonelier it is!

Q4: Have you ever clicked on a URL in unsolicited mail that you thought was for a dating site?

	Yes
Men 10-19 years old	14.3%
Men 20-29 years old	20.0%
Men 30-39 years old	20.5%
Men 40-49 years old	26.6%
Women 10-19 years old	3.3%
Women 20-29 years old	7.7%
Women 30-39 years old	9.2%
Women 40-49 years old	6.1%

Q5: For those who haven’t used one, do you want to try a dating site?

	Want to use	If there is no danger, I want to use	Don’t want to use	Can’t really say
Men 10-19 years old	0%	22%	58.5%	20%
Men 20-29 years old	4%	20%	61.6%	15%
Men 30-39 years old	1%	20%	71.2%	12%
Men 40-49 years old	0%	22%	63.9%	18%
Women 10-19 years old	0%	20%	71.4%	15%
Women 20-29 years old	1%	12%	78.1%	10%
Women 30-39 years old	1%	11%	83.0%	7%
Women 40-49 years old	1%	11%	83.0%	7%

Looking at those who have used dating sites, again it seems that loneliness is the main factor. Considering that those in their thirties are the heaviest users, and that is the age people get the urge to marriage, there seems a distict correlation. Speaking personally, most of the dating site spam I get seems more to do with bored housewives and prostitutes, not people looking for marriage!

Q: Why do/did you access the dating site?

	10-19 year olds	20-29 year olds	30-39 year olds	40-49 year olds
Want a lover	9.1%	2.1%	23.9%	7.9%
Want to “play”	9.1%	12.8%	8.5%	11.1%
Lonely	27.3%	4.3%	7.0%	0.0%
Want a mail friend	27.3%	27.7%	25.4%	44.4%
Want to banter with someone	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Just had some free time	27.3%	31.9%	19.7%	15.9%
Want to share hobbies	0.0%	14.9%	14.1%	17.5%
Want money	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Others	0.0%	6.4%	1.4%	3.2%

Another fun translation task. I liked how they used さみしい, samishii rather than さびしい, sabishii for lonely, a rather cute girly spelling of the word, even when they were describing middle-aged men.

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

NTV did a survey on a number of hot topics in the news right now – a lot of questions, but not much detail, so the exact meaning of some of the answers is up for debate. They carries out the survey from the 14th to 16th of this month, asking 1000 people but only getting 479 sets of replies, so it’s a bit of a small sample.

Q11: The Food Safety Commission presented a report that USA beef imports were basically safe, and would want to see imports restarted. Do you support resuming USA beef imports?

Support	43.0%
Don’t support	49.3%
Don’t know, no answer	7.7%

Q12: Rakuten has been buying TBS shares, and has proposed management integration. What do you think about TBS and Rakuten’s management integration?

By combining broadcast and (internet-based) transmission, I have expectations of new growth	20.5%
TBS’s side says it’s sudden, but I want to see change in the future	28.4%
I worry whether public (free-to-air?) broadcast will continue	28.8%
Others	4.6%
Don’t know, no answer	17.8%

Q13: Yoshiaki Murakami, against the wishes of the Hanshin Railways management ranks, in order to raise the company valuation, has proposed to float the subsiduary Hanshin Tigers baseball team on the stock market. Do you support this proposal?

Support	21.7%
Oppose	55.3%
Don’t know, no answer	23.0%

This is a question that frurstrates me a bit – I know the majority seem opposed to the idea, but why? Is there a general opposition to the idea of floating sports teams on the stock market, or is there opposition to Murakami personally, or is it just reluctance in the face of rapid change?

Q14: Tatsunori Hara has been appointed the new manager of the Giants baseball team. Do you think baseball will become interesting next year?

I think it will become interesting	49.7%
I don’t think it will become interesting	34.2%
Don’t know, no answer	16.1%

There seems an implication in this question that this year’s weak Giants automatically made the season dull. Although they are the top team in terms of support in Japan, the question seems loaded to me.

Q15: Do you think the Japanese economy will continue to improve?

I think so	36.5%
I don’t think so	55.7%
Don’t know, no answer	7.7%

Finished! A bit of a mixed bag there, but interesting opinions on quite a few of the burning issues. Thanks for reading all the way through.

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

NTV did a survey on a number of hot topics in the news right now – a lot of questions, but not much detail, so the exact meaning of some of the answers is up for debate. They carries out the survey from the 14th to 16th of this month, asking 1000 people but only getting 479 sets of replies, so it’s a bit of a small sample.

Q6: The Koizumi cabinet has re-submitted their Post Office privatisation bill for splitting it into four companies and has it passed into law. Do you support this establishment of the bill? (Bad, possibly wrong translation!)

Support it	61.8%
Don’t support it	26.9%
Don’t know, no answer	11.3%

Q7: Of the 13 former LDP members who voted against the Post Office privatisation proposals in July, 11 of them voted in favour this time. Do you support the actions of these 11 who changed their votes?

Support their actions	24.2%
Don’t support their actions	64.7%
Don’t know, no answer	11.1%

Q8: There is less than one year to go until Koizumi retires from leadership of the LDP. What would you most want him to accoplish during this time?

Resolve North Korea and kidnapping problems	17.5%
Civil service reform	8.4%
Financial and taxation reform	20.5%
Public financial institutions merger or abolishment	3.3%
Pensions review	42.2%
Others	4.6%
Don’t know, no answer	3.6%

Q9: There are about 600 GSDF troops deployed in Samawah, Iraq until the 14th of December. Please tell me your opinion about the GSDP deployment.

Deployment should be extended	21.1%
Should withdraw in December	61.4%
Should withdraw now	13.8%
Don’t know, no answer	3.8%

Q10: On the 17th of October is the Yasukuni Shrine Autumn Festival, and there is the view that Koizumi may very well attend. Do you support Koizumi woshipping there?

Support him	47.6%
Don’t support him	45.5%
Don’t know, no answer	6.9%

A slight diversion – the Yasukuni Shrine has perhaps two aspects to it. The first is the enshrinement of Class A war criminals, which is the topic that most people seem to focus upon, but to me it seems very much to hinge on a technicality or two, and as such does not particulary interest me, especially as the other aspect is that the shrine is run by, apparently, a bunch of right-wing militaristic nut jobs, not to put too fine a point on it. Friends who have visited have noted that the text of many of the exhibits, in both English and Japanese, glorify the Second World War and the earlier East Asian adventures whilst glossing over, if not outright ignoring the evil that was committed in the process. A visit to their English homepage, for instance, reveals unapologetic nonsense like this, from their FAQ:

There were also 1,068 “Martyrs of Showa” who were cruelly and unjustly tried as war criminals by a sham-like tribunal of the Allied forces (United States, England, the Netherlands, China and others).

Can you really imagine a German leader, say, visiting a church that had a sign talking about how Goering was unfairly accused, or even a British leader visiting (in a not really official, honest, Guv kind of way) that statue of Bomber Harris near Trafalgar Square?

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

NTV did a survey on a number of hot topics in the news right now – a lot of questions, but not much detail, so the exact meaning of some of the answers is up for debate. They carries out the survey from the 14th to 16th of this month, asking 1000 people but only getting 479 sets of replies, so it’s a bit of a small sample.

Q1: Do you support the Koizumi cabinet?

Yes	62.2%
No	29.4%
Don’t know, no answer	8.4%

Q2: For those answering YES in Q1, why do you support his cabinet?

Because I have expections for the cabinet members	2.7%
Because I can trust Koizumi’s character	21.5%
Because it’s the cabinet of the party I suppose	12.1%
Because I have expections for the policies	11.4%
Because I can expect reform	21.8%
Because there’s no-one else to do the job	21.8%
No particular reason	5.7%
Others	2.4%
Don’t know, no answer	0.7%

Q2: For those answering NO in Q1, why do you not support his cabinet?

Because I have no expections for the cabinet members	9.2%
Because I can’t trust Koizumi’s character	29.1%
Because it’s not the cabinet of the party I suppose	19.2%
Because I don’t have expections for the policies	22.0%
Because there’s no leadership	1.4%
No particular reason	4.3%
Others	13.5%
Don’t know, no answer	1.4%

Q4: Please tell me which party you support. If you don’t support any party, choose which you have strong feelings for.

LDP	46.1%
DPJ	19.0%
New Komeito	4.0%
Communists	2.7%
SDP	2.9%
People’s New Party	0.0%
New Party Nippon	0.2%
New Party Daichi	0.2%
Others	0.4%
I don’t support any part	21.9%
Don’t know, no answer	2.5%

Q5: The DPJ have selected Maehara as their new leader. Do you support Maehara’s leadership of the DPJ?

Greatly support	17.5%
Support to some extent	37.6%
Don’t really support	32.4%
Don’t support at all	9.6%
Don’t know, no answer	2.9%

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]