世論 What Japan Thinks

I found a blog reporting a Yahoo! headline supplied by the Mainichi from a press release from the private railway companies of Japan’s umbrella organisation, so excuse the fourth-handedness of the whole story. 6000 people were questioned to find out their views on bad manners on board. So, without further ado, first some of the complaints that didn’t quite make the top grade:

• Not following telephone manners (20%)
• Not following the rules when getting on and off (9%)
• Sitting on the floor
• Being noisy in the train
• Leaky headphones
• Putting on makeup
• Luggage in the way
• Ciggies (what aspect?)
• Eating and drinking on board

The worst three, gathering the majority of the votes were all to do with sitting down.

• Sitting with legs akimbo
• Young or fit people in the priority seats
• Not squeezing up when the bench seat is almost full

My pet hate is similar to the last one, people who don’t move away from the doors when they board.

UPDATE: This is an updated version of the original story, as I ended up with a stupidly high ranking in MSN Search and was getting far too many hits from dubious searchs! I also had an email about the article from DIMSDRIVE research, and I felt that the tone of the original article could be perceived as tarnishing the reputation of that company, so I pulled the story and replaced it with this version.

Last month DIMSDRIVE research carried out this survey to find out what Japanese citizens wore during the long hot summer nights. The sample size was 6,904 people with just over 60% female.
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NEOPRO JAPAN Mobile Report issue 26 recently published a report on accessing web sites and documents designed for PC use, or at least not designed with mobile phone access in mind. The average browser on a mobile phone is limited by various constraints, not just by the obvious limitation of screen size, but also by page data length – two to five kilobytes seems the usual limit – and by picture complexity and formats, to name a couple of other restrictions. There has been TV advertising for mobiles that can get round this limitation, but the question is are people interested in using these features? There’s also the supplementary question about whether or not once the access limitation is got round, is it actually practical to use your mobile to read the BBC? This issue is not addressed, however.

The survey was conducted on September the 8th and 9th through the iMode, Vodafone live! and EZweb public sites with some sort of prize promotion to get respondents. 4,216 people completed the self-selecting survey, 60% female, with 38% and 41% in their twenties and thirties respectively.

Q1: Would it be useful if you could view PC-facing web sites or files on your mobile phone?

Really useful	46%
Useful	34%
Perhaps, perhaps not	10%
Useful, but I wouldn’t use	8%
Other	1%
No answer	1%

Q2: Have you ever downloaded software to allow you to view PC-facing web sites or files on your mobile?

No, but I want to try it	58%
No, and have no interest	17%
Yes, a free download	15%
No, as my mobile phone already has that feature built-in	4%
Yes, a paid download	3%
Other	2%
No answer	1%

Q3: If you could view PC-facing web sites on your mobile, what sort of sites would you want to use? (Multiple answer)

News, maps, weather	41%
Auctions	37%
Fortune-telling or games	34%
Bulletin board reading and writing	33%
Others	32%
Railway info search	21%
Blogs	20%
Chat	15%
Social networking site	8%

Q4: Which of the following have you viewed, or would like to view, on your mobile phone? (Multiple answer)

PC mail	41%
Others	32%
Excel files	31%
Word files	30%
PDF files	14%
PowerPoint files	13%

BCN, some sort of umbrella organisation for small computer and electronic goods stores, performed this survey where they questioned 2,547 people, 57.2% male, and with an age profile of 14.5% under 30, 32.4% in their thirties, 34.5% in their forties, 13.2% in their fifties, and 5.3% over 60; and a bonus 0.1% unsure of how old. The PC usage history was perhaps also a bit top-heavy in veterans, 17.9% with less than 5 years, 39.8% between 5 and 10 years, 19.7% between 10 and 15 years, 9.4% between 15 and 20 years, and 13.1% over 20 years, which is quite stunning considering the PC itself is barely over 20 years old!
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Since this blog, like many others, and like real life too, is littered with adverts, it might be useful to look at how the Japanese perceive advertising. This survey from goo Research attempted to address this issue. This survey was carried out amongst 2,147 people residing in Tokyo and the surrounding prefectures of Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba. It was performed as a real time survey using mobile phones, whatever that means. I think it means they just phoned mobile numbers from their survey group at random, so people could answer about their current surroundings.
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As someone who chews gum after almost every meal at home, the following survey from goo Research on usage in Japan is interesting to me. I suppose I could add comments on the dodgy state of Japanese teeth, but (a) I’ll resist the temptation, and (b) that sort of comment is often from Americans with unnaturally straight white gnashers. In addition I’ve received wonderful treatment from my Japanese dentist. So, back at the survey, they questioned 2,167 people from their private internet group at the end of August, and obtained the following results.

However, first I will explain a couple of terms. “Functional” gum means gum with medical or other beneficial claims associated with them, whether it be direct ones like some on the market with Xylitol, teeth whitening properties, non-smoking, or more vague claims about relieving dry throats or caffine-laced products. The TOKUHO mark is a stamp of approval by some government body to say the prduct thus stamped has been demonstrated to actually have the healthy properties that are claimed. With most (all?) brands of bottle gums, there is a book of small-sized Post-It Notes ™-like “disposal paper” included that is meant to be used for wrapping your used gum in.

Q: How often do you chew functional gum? (Sample size=2,167)

Almost daily	14.7%
About twice or thrice a week	15.2%
About once a week	12.1%
About twice or thrice a month	13.7%
Less than once a month	21.2%
Don’t chew functional gum	23.2%

Q: What is your reason for chewing functional gum? (Sample size=1,665; multiple answer)

Getting rid of bad breath after food, etc	55.5%
Cavity prevention	45.5%
Preventing tiredness	39.5%
Relaxation	34.0%
Just chew because it’s to hand (eg on top of desk, etc)	23.9%
Instead of cleaning teeth after meals, etc	23.3%
Prevent dry throat	7.4%
Others	3.7%

Q: What type of functional gum do you normally buy? (Sample size=1,665)

	All	Male	Female
Bottle type (loose tabs)	34.7%	36.0%	64.7%
Stick type	34.7%	43.9%	54.7%
Packaged tab type	34.7%	29.0%	73.6%

Q: After buying bottle type gum, how has your gum consumption changed? (Sample size=577)

Increased greatly	31.5%
Increased slightly	42.1%
Stayed about the same	23.6%
Decreased a little	0.2%
Decreased a lot	0.4%
I didn’t buy other gums before buying bottles	2.3%

Q: What do you use the “disposal paper” in the bottles for? (Sample size=577)

Throwing away the chewed gum	64.9%
As a memo pad	19.1%
Just throw it away without using it	10.4%
Didn’t know there was disposal paper inside	4.2%
Others	1.6%

Q: Do you check whether the gum has an effect when you buy it? (Sample size=2,167)

Always check	15.3%
Sometimes check	42.6%
Don’t really check	30.7%
Never check	11.4%

Q: Do you check whether the Tokuho mark is present when you buy gum (of any kind)? (Sample size=2,167)

Always check	4.7%
Sometimes check	22.1%
Don’t really check	44.2%
Never check	29.1%

Q: Do you check whether the Tokuho mark is present when you buy functional gum? (Sample size=1,665)

Always check	5.7%
Sometimes check	26.2%
Don’t really check	47.2%
Never check	21.0%

Following on from the recent census, there are some additional questions that need to be answered by all foreigners living in Japan. I urge all readers to urgently visit this page and complete the survey! (*^_^*)

Also, sorry, but real life’s been a bit busy so updates are thin on the ground!

Finally what I have been searching for, a bit late, but nonetheless, it’s the only survey I could find on the topic. DIMSDRIVE performed a public opinion poll on the two days right after the recent general election, questioning 3,598 people from all around the country in an internet-based survey. The source of the pool of respondents is not clear, however. 45.5% were male, 54.5% female, from all around the country. The Kanto area seems, however, a bit over-represented: 56.4% of panel lived there whereas the actual population is closer to 30% of the total Japanese population. This bias to urbanised areas might affect the Post Office privatisation opinions expressed later on.

Q: Did you vote in the election?

Yes	81.7%
No	18.3%

Note that the actual turnout was 67.5%, so perhaps a good number of the non-voters refused to participate in this survey too. The age and sex breakdown of voters is also interesting: 23.2% of the 20-29 year-old men didn’t vote, and 33.0% of the women of the same age didn’t. In the 40-49 years old bracket, both sexes are at just under 14%, and the 60 years old and over category has a mere 3% of non-participants in democracy.

Q: What was the most important policy issue for you?

Post office privatisation	32.9%
Pensions and benefits	22.7%
Political reform	7.7%
Education or population shrinkage	7.5%
Tax reform	7.0%
Economic measures	5.9%
Constitutional revision	1.6%
Foreign affairs	1.3%
Job creation measures	0.9%
Environmental problems	0.5%
Others	3.1%
Don’t know	1.0%
No important policies	8.1%

Regarding pensions and welfare, not too surprisingly the older the respondents got the more important it became! Some of the other issues that were listed as important were “fiscal issues”, “administration selection” (I think this means choosing the correct leaders for the country), “amakudari“, “anti-war”, “expressing tangible figures” (not sure what this one refers to), “restructuring”, etc.

Q: For those who voted, did you read any manifestos or other political promise documents? (Sample size=2,939)

Carefully read them	13.1%
Skim read them	36.1%
Glanced at them	20.7%
Had them but never read them	1.4%
Didn’t even receive one	28.7%

Q: For those who didn’t vote, why didn’t you vote? (Sample size=659)

I thought I wanted to vote, but there was no candidate or party (…I could support?)	31.0%
It was inconvenient, so I couldn’t go to the polling station	29.9%
I think it’s just the same whoever wins	22.0%
I don’t think my single vote makes any difference	19.6%
No interest in politics	12.9%
I didn’t know much about the candidates and parties	10.6%
Too far, or I was ill, etc, so I couldn’t go to the polling station	8.5%
I want to vote for policies, but not for parties	7.4%
I’m not on the electoral roll	0.5%
Others	9.0%
No particular reason	5.0%

Some of the other reasons recorded were “because it was raining”, “I didn’t study enough to be able to vote”, “it was predicted to be an LDP walk-over anyway”, “Too much noise about Post Office privatisation”, “I couldn’t choose who to vote for”, “I’m posted far away from home”, “I forgot”, “I lost my voting card”, etc.

Q: Do you think Post Office privatisation is necessary? (Sample size=3,598)

Rather necessary	28.5%
Fairly necessary	36.3%
Can’t say one way or the other	20.8%
Not really necessary	7.9%
Not necessary at all	5.9%
Difficult to say	0.6%

For those who voted, the opinions on privatisation were in line with the table above, with an extra 3% viewing it as rather essential, and a corresponding 3% less sitting on the fence. However, for non-voters, these two figures were basically reversed, with only 16.7% strongly favouring it and 32.2% undecided.

Strangely, I thought, looking at the age breakdown, the older one gets the more in favour of privatisation they become. Only about 20% of the youngest age group saw it as rather necessary, yet 45% of the pensioner age group favoured it. As age increased, the rather necessary fraction steadily increased at the expense of the undecided fraction only. Given that the older one gets the more one may rely on the services of the Post Office, and given some of the (basically untrue) stories about wholescale branch closure, I find this a result worthy of further study.

Q: Did your interest in politics increase during this election period?

	All (N=3,598)	Voters (N=2,939)	Non-voters (N=659)
Increased rather a lot	14.5%	16.1%	7.3%
Increased a bit	33.8%	34.9%	28.7%
Not really changed	48.4%	45.7%	59.9%
Decreased a bit	1.6%	1.7%	1.1%
Decreased a lot	1.9%	1.6%	3.0%

Looking at the age and sex breakdown, the only significant figure seems to be that over half the old ladies are now significantly more interested in politics, although it is worthy of note that there was only 37 women over 60 who took part in the survey, so these figures may be biased by the small group.

According to this survey by MyVoice, performed at the start of August of this year amongst 12,317 registered members of the MyVoice Community, the following views on electronic money are as follows. 7,002 women and 5,295 men took part in the survey, with almost 40% being aged 30-39.

Q: Select all the electronic money brands you know.

Suica (JR East)	71.3%
Edy (Bitwallet (ANA et al))	63.2%
WebMoney	35.7%
ICOCA (JR West)	34.9%
ChoCOM (NTT)	20.8%
BitCash	14.7%
Others	3.3%
Don’t know about electronic money	11.5%
No answer	0.2%

Q: Have you used electronic money?

Yes	37.2%
No	62.8%

Q: For those who have used electronic money, what brands have you used? (Sample size=4,582 I think)

Suica (JR East)	54.8%
Edy (Bitwallet (ANA et al))	34.7%
WebMoney	23.2%
ICOCA (JR West)	11.0%
ChoCOM (NTT)	5.7%
BitCash	3.9%
Others	4.4%
No answer	0.4%

Note that Suica and ICOCA are regional brands focused around the two conurbations of Tokyo and Osaka, so the overlap between the two brands might be pretty small, although in the Osaka area there has been adverts describing how the ICOCA can be used in the Suica area. I would also suspect that a lot of the Suica and ICOCA users are not using the wallet features of the card – the main use is perhaps just as an electronic season ticket. Personally speaking I didn’t use the electronic wallet portion until over a year after getting the card.

Q: For those who have used electronic money, what have you used it for? (Sample size=4,582 I think)

Travel tickets	55.6%
Convenience store	42.4%
Net shopping	23.2%
Kiosk (usually on station platform)	15.3%
Vending machine	5.0%
Theatre/event ticket booth	3.5%
Supermarket	3.3%
Pharmacy	2.7%
Department store	1.6%
Discount store	1.2%
Others	14.5%
No answer	0.4%

Q: From now on, do you think you want to use electronic money? (Sample size unclear. All participants perhaps?)

I want to use	19.3%
I might want to use	26.8%
I may or may not want to use	31.7%
I don’t really want to use	13.5%
I don’t want to use	8.1%
No answer	0.7%

Sample reasons for answers:

I want to use	34yo male	Cashlessness seems convenient
	20yo female	I want to get Miles
	33yo male	Points and other privileges
I might want to use	42yo female	I’ve got a Suica pass in mind
	25yo male	Handy in emergencies
	32yo female	It seems to be becoming necessary these days
I may or may not want to use	49yo male	Too many types, and the number of cards needed is inconvenient
	27yo female	Refilling the card is a pain. Still just a few places to use the cards.
	44yo male	If I had one I might use it (eh?)
I don’t really want to use	43yo female	I don’t feel I can trust the security aspect
	23yo male	I’m a cash man myself
	39yo female	I can’t yet really understand the whole idea
I don’t want to use	26yo male	I’m concerned that personal information will be disclosed
	30yo female	I’d probably lose all my money sense
	64yo male	It’s unnecessary

I can’t say I’ve seen any cards used outside of station ticket gates myself, but I wonder if people were including their standard credit cards in the list of places they had used these cards? Most Japanese credit cards come with an IC Card component, and most supermarkets have signature-less and PIN-less transactions that are just as good as electronic money. I’d be in the “probably don’t want to use” camp myself, even though I have an ICOCA. The private rail equivalent, PiTaPa, is post-pay, which I am still not 100% sure about myself, especially since even the season ticket component is not paid in advance.

According to this survey published by infoPlant, QR codes are very well-known and widely used. One word of caution, however, is that this survey, carried out at the end of August, had the respondents self-selected from a link in the DoCoMo iMode menu system. 7,660 people completed the survey, 5,023 of them women, so naturally one would expect a strong bias in favour of the question.

Note that the QR Code at the head of the story was made for free at the web site here.

Q: Do you know about QR codes (2D barcodes)? (Sample size=7,660)

I’ve used them	73.3%
I know about them, and have a reader feature in my phone, but I haven’t used them	7.6%
I know about them, but don’t have a reader feature in my phone, so I haven’t used them	15.6%
I don’t know about them	3.5%

Looking at the age breakdown, for both males and females almost 90% of the under 20′s use them, but the rate steadily drops down to end up at just about half of all the over 50s.

Q: For those who answered that they used them, in what printed materials have you used QR Codes? (Sample size=5,513)

Business card	5.7%
Newspaper	31.9%
Magazine	84.2%
Advertising flyer	51.1%
Poster	14.2%
Direct mail	25.0%
Mail-order catalog	24.8%
PC web site	20.7%
Other	13.1%

There was no significant differences between the sexes, except for almost two and a half times more women used mail-order catalog QR Codes.

Q: Which of the following QR Code-based services do you want to use? (Sample size=7,660)

Easy phone book registration from a business card, etc	36.8%
Read a URL and access a site	74.3%
Replacement for company identification badge	29.0%
Cashless shopping at vending machines, etc	28.3%
Buying goods written about in magazines	27.7%
Replacement for tickets (concerts, travel passes, etc)	32.5%
Others	5.5%
Don’t want to use	7.4%

Strangely enough, I thought, those who answered in the first question that they didn’t know what QR Codes were didn’t want to use any services at all, on the whole. Almost two-thirds of that group answered “Don’t want to use” to the above question.